tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sun Aug 18 19:52:04 1996

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Re: RE: An offer you shouldn't refuse!

While I should just let this pass, there are too many blatent inaccuracies...

On Fri, 2 Aug 1996 16:13:43 -0700 Kenneth Traft 
<[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> ***************   Ken's Comments *************************
> 
> "Good News for the Warrior Race" is now in its second printing and is very 
> popular among Christians.  The appearance of the work is more cut and pasted 
> and it is photocopied, but the Klingon used in the book is good.  There is a 
> lot of bad feeling toward Glen and I do not feel it is fair.  Glen is a bit 
> abrasive and he is by profession a linguist.  He is fluent in over 11 
> languages (plus Klingon) and Glen has been teaching languages for quite a 
> while.  He gets headstrong and a bit haughty, but that is the way of most 
> intellectuals.

There are many abrasive, headstrong, etc. people on this list, none of whom have earned 
Glen's special status here. His intensive lack of interest in cooperation, selling goods on 
commission and then keeping the money, and his willingness take the language and boldly go 
in directions no one has chosen to follow have earned him this status.
 
> Glen believes in using the guidelines put forth in the TKD and he tends to 
> take the TKD references as a guideline based on his many years of linguistic 
> studies for further interpetation and usage.  The general concensis by many is 
> to wait for Dr. Okrand to "spell everything out" before they will use it.  

Glen simply made up new words whenever he wanted to. My favorite was his collection of 
terms for extended family members.

> One 
> thing I can praise "HoD Qankor" for is that he will run with the language 
> using the guidelines as he interprets them.  

That's {HoD Qanqor} or "Captain Krankor". Take your choice. You kinda mushed the two 
together.

> Most of the conventions Glen has 
> proposed to date have been made canon in the many works by Dr. Okrand that 
> have come out recently.  

Hardly. He seems right about his use of {Hoch} before nouns to mean "All of". While he was 
right about what had been common overuse of {-ghach}, he was far from alone in that 
insight, and when he made that pronouncement, he used it as an argument for using any verb 
as a noun whenever you wanted to. You seem to have conveniently forgotten that part.

> If you will remember Glen was very vocal (bordering 
> on obnoxious maybe) over the misuse of <-ghach> and Dr. Okrand's explanation 
> was in line with Glen's arguments.

You rewrite history. Glen's conclusion to that argument was that you could use any verb as 
a noun. This was NOT in line with Dr. Okrand's explanation.
 
> Glen's works for the most part are pasted together and photocopied because he 
> doesn't have the resources or money to do otherwise (for the most part - he 
> sometimes gets too anxious and pushes to get the stuff out).  

He would have more resources if he chose to cooperate with others. Instead, he chooses to 
have complete control over things, and so he has complete control over a photocopier where 
a group might be able to muster the resources to publish a real book. He has taken written 
works and art and published them, selling them for real money without offering anything to 
those whose works he copied.

He is no demon, but I can't stand to see him so inaccurately praised. The truth is, he has 
been a positive force in the growth of the language through his zeal, yet a lot of people 
have been hurt by his reckless determination to own the language and do with it what he 
chooses. His efforts to put out his inferior version of Hamlet just before ours was 
especially insulting.

Then, there's that little matter of his openly declaring war on KLI...

> One of my 
> philosophy professor's favorite phase was "throwing the baby out with the 
> bathwater".  To dismiss Glen's work simply because they aren't as "pretty" as 
> those of the KLI or because Glen is Glen, "thows the baby out with the 
> bathwater."

This is one baby many of us wouldn't miss.
 
> Sorry for getting on my soap box, but I had to say it! 

My feelings exactly. 
 
charghwI'

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