tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Jun 28 07:39:09 1993

Back to archive top level

To this year's listing

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]

Re: HoS voDleH jIH

        1. Why should it be any easier to carve from right to left?
           The longest Greek inscription in stone is in boustrophedon,
           which would seem to indicate that it was a toss-up.
        2. If it's so much easier write with ink from left to right,
           how is it that the most intricate caligraphy in an
           alphabetic script is in Arabic, written from right to left.
        3. "Intense confusion"?  Boustrophedon may have been a
           transitional phase, but the fact that the word means "as
           the ox plows" pretty much shows they knew what they were
           doing.  Mario Pei wondered why the system, "so restful to
           the eye", was abandoned.  Evidently, he thought it was a
           superior way of writing.

           It just makes me thankful for tlhIngan-Hol and its gonzo,
          ASCII-bound transcription system.  But is 'transcription'
          the right word to use when one transcribes a fictional
          langauge from non-existant glyphs?

          Kloko.

Back to archive top level