tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Sat Feb 27 14:59:15 1999
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Re: An Open Letter (or, peHruS, et al.)
ja' ter'eS:
>As the father of 3, I feel qualified to step in here: ALL RIGHT, everybody!
mu'meylIj lubuSHa'be'lu'. Thank you for pointing out how this looks to
someone who doesn't share a long-term history of the mailing list.
>Everyone remember that this is basically just a hobby. Klingon will
>eventually become an
>interesting footnote in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. Enjoy it while
>it lasts,
>but it simply isn't worth the anger and emotion that have been expressed
>here recently.
This is likely to be an extreme minority opinion, but I actually think some
of it *is* worth the energy being expended here. Many of us have become a
part of a real community of dedicated, enthusiastic users of the Klingon
language. We actually communicate with each other in a language that was
originally little more than a prop for a movie but has grown tremendously
in many ways. While I don't deny that it's basically a hobby, it's a hobby
with specific rules and conventions. When someone starts redefining those
rules based on his own preferences or prejudices, or calling them incorrect
because of nothing more than personal conviction, it becomes time to react
strongly in order to keep the language from losing the ability to express
meaning clearly.
After all, communication *is* the purpose of language. Anyone who thinks
otherwise will have to present an extraordinarily convincing argument in
order to be taken seriously.
-- ghunchu'wI'