This is my second attempt at posting within the group. Yahoo gobbled
up my first.

--- In Nostratica@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Wordingham"
<richard@...> wrote:

> From: "Gerry" <waluk@...>
> Sent: Saturday, June 28, 2003 3:20 AM
> Subject: [Nostratica] Hello Guys
>
>
> > Why are you posting the stuff you have gathered when Piotr, the

true

> > intellectual, has left the list.
>
> a) Piotr joined the original Nostratic as a disbeliever, in his own

words,

> as a 'devil's advocate'. It was never Piotr's property; he was a

reserve

> custodian.

Who is the moderator over on Nostratic? I thought the list was now
defunct?

> If the level of discussion rises, Piotr _might_ even return.

However, he

> has his hands full with Cybalist. I hope his day job isn't

suffering. He

> was recently hit by at least three waves of what _he_ probably

regarded as

> low grade postings - Austronesian, Cybalist and Nostratic. You saw

others

> leave Austronesian, and you should remember gLeN's complaints about

the

> 'tsunami' on Cybalist.

Piotr's training is with accurate linguistics as opposed to
philosophical ling. IMO, he is more of a reductionist than I am, yet
I always find his information of interest and of value.

> The key point about Piotr is that he seems unable to let incorrect
> assertions pass unchallenged. That's very helpful for the rest of

us, but

> must be quite draining for him.

I'm certain that most "scholars" are always drained when trying to
keep the documented knowledge in tact. That's what Piotr's
speciality is.

> b) I think the professors on this group (how many? 3? 4? more?)

will be

> offended at being described as 'not true intellectuals'. I too am

offended,

> though I merely hold a doctorate.

What's a "true intellectual"? Now that topic would be a good one for
discussion. That's also something I'd be interested in chatting
about. Don't forget....females like chatting and males don't do that
well with it.

> > This is most disturbing and I would
> > like an answer before I disband this group.
>
> Shouldn't you let the group die before you disband it? Better

still, why

> not leave it until Yahoo kill it?

If the purpose of this group is for a bunch of guys to highlight
info. from a book or two with their new wands and record it for
posterity, that's fine. But I'm all for a more philosophical
discussion of what actually language orgins means.

> Gerry, if you have lost interest in the group, let me know, and I'll
> shoulder the administrative burden. New members may have to wait

longer

> before joining, but that's tough.

No, I haven't lost interest in administrating this group. Only
interest in participating because I'm without a wand or "the" book.

Gerry

> Richard.