tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Fri Aug 01 10:44:21 1997
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Re: Language jokes show English speaking bias...
- From: "Jarno Peschier" <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Language jokes show English speaking bias...
- Date: Fri, 1 Aug 1997 19:45:09 +0100
- Comments: Authenticated sender is <[email protected]>
- In-reply-to: <[email protected]>
- Organization: Utrecht University, Computer Science
- Priority: normal
On 24 Jul 97 at 17:28, Robyn Stewart wrote:
> lab Jarno Peschier:
> > I cannot really appreciate the jokes like 'ul and 'awje' after I'm
> > told what UL and A&W are (I've never even heard of them). In fact,
> > I cannot even recognize them as funny in any way until told.
>
> qayajchu'. It's isolating that this language, supposed to be
> equally alien to all Earth natives, contain components that are
> directed at only one group of them. Americans seem to forget that
> some things that are universal to them are foreign to ninety-five
> percent of the world's population.
Exactly! I find an attitude like this is quite wide-spread (either
consciously or not, mostly not at all I guess) in for instance the
English speaking Internet community. Personally I try to make my
utterings on the net as "global" as possible (at least I try to keep
this very explicitly in mind).
> But the jokes really are for Marc, based on his experience. He
> definitely confirmed last year that he had a neighbour (jIl) named
> Jill. He probably has a friend who can't get through a sentence
> without swearing (jay'!) named Jay.
Yes, yes. Of course. But that's not what I was "complaining" about
(mind you: complain is not really the right word: I was just
making an observation, really). Things like 'awje' (A&W) and 'ul (UL)
are not so much "Marc's-experience-based" or
"English-language-based" (which is "fine"), but much more just
"US-cultural-based". See the difference?
Oh well, this whole topic isn't worth any more than just my initial
observation, to be frank. Let's drop it right now and point our
attention to our usual topics, like we should have done multiple
messages ago... Okay?
Jarno Peschier, computer science student, Utrecht University
mailto:[email protected] http://jarno.home.ml.org/
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'avwI' nejDI' narghta'bogh qama' reH 'avwI' Sambej