tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jun 19 09:47:16 1995
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: How to transliterate Beowulf...
- From: "Mark E. Shoulson" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: How to transliterate Beowulf...
- Date: Mon, 19 Jun 1995 12:46:56 -0400
- In-reply-to: <[email protected]> (message from Alan Anderson on Sun, 18 Jun 1995 11:33:26 -0400)
>Date: Sun, 18 Jun 1995 11:33:26 -0400
>Originator: [email protected]
>From: Alan Anderson <[email protected]>
>Hmm. I used to like transliteration a lot, but now I find myself more
>in agreement with ~mark. What's the point in making it harder to read?
>For example, can you figure out what I mangled to get {*ghubtIyDubtIy}?
"Humpty Dumpty"?
I can see the value of transliterating when you're doing important literary
work, since borrowed words there look bad. But in casual conversation, I
think transliterating is the Wrong Thing. I recall Krankor once
complaining when charghwI' described how he liked a computer game, "*Dum*".
OK, even if we know we're not to look this up in our TKD's, we're still
scratching our heads, trying to find a game called "Dum". I could call up
my local computer store and read it out to them and they still might not
know what I'm talking about.
Don't lose sight of the main point: the point of language is to communicate
ideas. If things are so obscure you need to know them before you read
them, you haven't accomplished the task.
>-- ghunchu'wI'
~mark