tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed May 25 21:45:03 1994

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Re: News and Announcements



charghwI'vo:

So Lawrence wants to have a response to the news that Okrand
will be writing more for HolQeD. Well, I, for one, have been
rather disheartened by not only the small quantity but also the
poor quality of what Okrand has shared with us through HolQeD
and if future contributions will be of the same ilk, I have
little cause for enthusiasm.

What's wrong with these past offerings? First, a lack of focus.
The words we get are random and challenging to integrate with
the rest of the lexicon because he doesn't even specify the
part of speech. There are no attempts to clarify any of the
grammar and no examples of complete sentences with a meaningful
discussion of how the sentence was formed. We don't even get
the official spelling of the new words introduced in the audio
tapes.

Basically, I wish Okrand would show signs of taking the
language half as seriously as Krankor. If he would address the
most open-ended, poorly handled items in TKD, like the use of
{-ghach}, all truly correct usages of the verb {pong}, some
useful advice on determining which verbs really can be used
adjectivally, a few words on apposition, even little things
like more clarity on the full range of meaning for {vIH} and
the issue of transitivity in general.

Guido#1 has described my "style" as the most conservative here.
Well, I'd like to be able to expand on that style without
taking liberties and making up my own rules arbitrarily
appended to Okrand's. I do not want to find my own personal
answer to the vagaries left behind by Okrand. Every time a tool
is poorly defined, I tend to avoid its use altogether, which
leaves me making creative use of very few tools. I want a
bigger tool set. The Okrand that appears in HolQeD shows no
signs of offering me that. At best, he merely offers a few new
words to keep track of, offered in a form inconsistent with the
rest of the vocabulary and difficult to integrate into it.

It makes me angry to think about it, and these days, my life is
entirely too good for me to waste time being angry, so I tend
to avoid thinking about it altogether. In that spirit, I will
now CEASE to think about and return to my life in a time line
that does NOT include much hope for meaningful contributions
from Okrand. The Sun shines, and I'm enjoying the excellent
company of several women quite deserving of my admiration for
their striking characters. I feel almost as good as I did when I
had a sex life.

And so, the rest of you may wish away for a day when Okrand
will become a meaningful contributor to the community of those
who care about his language. I, for one, will believe it when I
see it. Years have passed. He has had more than enough time to
show more than neglect for this community, yet that is pretty
much all we've gotten from him.

He shows us no honor.

charghwI'



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