----- Original Message ----- From: "Caliann the Elf" <calianng_graves at yahoo.com> To: "Steven Brust" <skzb at dreamcafe.com>; <dragaera at dragaera.info> Sent: Friday, August 16, 2002 7:36 AM Subject: Re: OT: Subjectivity vs. Objectivity (was: bois...) > > > Steven Brust wrote: > We have a third choice: attempting to influence, so that the changes that > take place help to make the language more useful, flexible, and > powerful. I don't think simplicity vs complexity is the issue--the exact > details, and how they effect language, are the issue. > > **************************************************************************** ***************** > > Wow, why didn't you tell me in all this time you wished to be French? They use that sort of control over their language. <smiles sweetly> > "I hope" that when Steve speaks of influencing the evolution of our language that he envisions people modifying their own language usage at home, in the workplace, and in the streets... which is where language evolves. "Hopefully" he's not about to promote official government bodies such as they use in Quebec, Canada (http://www.olf.gouv.qc.ca/) and in France (http://www.academie-francaise.fr/). The Quebec incarnation is a particularly ugly one, they go around ensuring that the text of bilingual signs display the French text at twice the size of the other language text, and that unilingual non-French signs are torn down/replaced. <snarls disgustedly> -Scott Ingram