When our founding fathers were deciding what language the new US of A
would use, the choices were between English and German. The latter lost
by just one vote! Of course, English is principally descended from what is
called
"High" German (whatever that means!).
Well, at least it isn't French, a wonderful language which is anti-forests as
there
are so many letters in each word which aren't pronounced.
73, Bob AA0CY@contesting.com
----------
From: Roger L. Elowitz[SMTP:K2JAS@worldnet.att.net]
Sent: Thursday, July 03, 1997 9:08 AM
To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Kudos and Other Thoughts
Hi Gang,
Some really very interesting threads have been taking place lately and I
just wanted to input a few of my own ideas for your consideration.
First...re. "Banned or Filtered Vocabulary" what can I say? If successful
you guys will have eliminated 90% of everything I know, love, and have
split my sides laughing at in the last six months.....;-))
I'm very much impressed at how well you have all tolerated this humor
considering it has in no way crowded out anything REALLY IMPORTANT. The
really important things got posted and addressed anyway... and for those of
us who don't want or need the humor... we weren't forced to read it. It
didn't take away from anything but rather added a human dimension to the
reflector that made it just so much more enjoyable to be a part of.
Second... re. the TT incident... I'm really proud to have been a subscriber
to this reflector because of the gentlemanly way all participants to this
thread have conducted themselves. They have been eloquent and constructive
in all their points. This is not an issue that is one sided. To have
excluded Texas Towers from the discussion would have done them... and all
of us, a great disservice.
What we've been able to learn from the parties to this incident far and
away transcends any need to ban commercial participants from the reflector.
Indeed, it takes great courage for commercial guys to deal with problems
like these in a public forum. It was handled exceedingly well and my hat's
off to all for such a fine job. It makes THIS REFLECTOR quite rare and
very special for being able to handle this material as well as it has.
Third....re. True North.... I don't for a minute believe any of you are
taking this all that seriously. Personally, I find the topic quite
fascinating...from an academic point of view only... and for the humor I
can milk from it. It is a topic we rarely ever deal with in real life and
when we need to... we feel somewhat embarrassed that that information is
either not on hand or just plain wrong. Here too, I am really impressed at
the quality of the academic input on this subject.... and again we have all
prospered from the experience.
And Lastly...re. "Proper Spelling" in posts made to the reflector.... which
was only recently hinted at.... The name of the game here is COMMUNICATION.
Some do it better than others- naturally. Of all the problems people have
in getting their ideas down... spelling seems to be the least of them.
English is such a tolerant language in this regard. Even the misspellings
add to its richness and diversity. It's like the impurities that add most
of the flavor and interest to the brew.
Sure, if you remember... or you care... use a spell-checker. But mostly,
concentrate on getting the ideas formulated. The people who quibble with
the spelling probably don't have the patience to deal with the ideas anyway.
Now.... enough of the serious stuff... and if I may, contribute this
wonderful bit of humor about English Spelling. If humor bothers you (and I
really hope it doesn't)... please stop reading at this point.
Respectfully submitted for your thoughtful consideration....and side
splitting laughter,
Roger, K2JAS
........................................< HUMOR ALERT
>...............................
The European Union Commissioners have announced that agreement has
been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European
communications rather than German, which was the other possibility. As
part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English
spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased
plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).
In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft c". Sertainly,
sivil servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, the hard "c" will be
replaced with "k". This will make English konform to German, a more proper
language. Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have
one less letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the
troublesome "ph" will be replaced by "f". This will make words like
"fotograf" 20 persent shorter.
In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to
reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments
will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a
deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of
silent "e"s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.
By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th"
by "z" and "w" by " v". Vuns agan mor in kunformuns wiz German. During ze
fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou", and
similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.
After ze fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor
trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.
Ze drem vil finali kum tru!
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/towertalkfaq.html
Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/towertalkfaq.html
Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: owner-towertalk@contesting.com
Search: http://www.contesting.com/km9p/search.htm
|