The Official ZBB Quote Thread

[LinguistCat]

It could be! [or at least circular... spherical is more complicated to figure out]

Yes, that's why I asked about "spherical". "Circular" isn't madness, "spherical" is, IMO.

unless you're a five-dimensional being instead of a four-dimensional one.

so what, godspeech has movement-indicating conjunctions for hypercube-like trayectories?... Man I feel like getting stoned

[Cedh]

I have a lot of junk on my desktop that still needs to be sorted into folders.

Just do what I do and create a bunch of new folders variously titled 'crap', 'rubbish', 'stuff', 'crap 2' etc. and stick 'em all in there. The virtual equivalent of shoving all your junk in a cupboard or under your bed.

[Viktor77]

Also, what, no Montenegrin wikipedia yet? Shame on you, Yugoslavians!

Balkan separatism just isn't what it used to be.

[Qwynegold]

On the contrary, Mr. Torco. They love killing all that is sinful and unclean. However, they must kill from afar with bows and arrows. (It is forbidden, by the way, for them to forge metal weapons.) Or capture the enemies and then burn them at the stake.

[jes:], I do remember all of that from a post on those guys back in the day, of course. I do imagine that cultural thing generating very humorous situations, however: imagine; the Glaagh kill a party of infiltrated humans, and then just leave them to rot at the local plaza, since no one will get close enough to clean up.

or even funnier: how many glaagh does it take to clear after a small battle:

2; one cleans up and the other incinerates him.

[Mbwa]

Not to mention "asstastic".

Is this how do you define yourself? LOL!

in a shocking development, it was revealed this week that Octaviano is, in fact, made of a rubberlike substance

coming up next, are you concerned about your newfound adhesive qualities? we interview a doctor who says you should be worried!!!

[Io]

Regarding writing Nuxalk with Hangeul:

Hangeul wasn't designed to take that CCCCCCCCCCCC abuse!

[Cedh]

During a discussion on the etymology of PIE *kʷekʷlo- 'wheel':

Unless (like I think) PIE borrowed *kwel- in the first place from PNC *ʡwilʡa (˜ -ʕ-,-ǝ,-ɨ) 'wheel'.
So the question is: which was first, the chicken or the egg?

Aren't you worried that you are suffering from confirmation bias and some circular logic here?

If wheels are involved, it's definitely circular.

[Gaxa]

Ok thanks guys but I don't want it to be all weird and freaky. I will post more stuff some may be close to English and some won't be at all.

Why do newbies think the English is "normal" and everything else is "weird and freaky"?

[Pthagnar]

because their native language is usually english, why is this surprising to you?

[Torco]

because their native language is usually english, why is this surprising to you?

Because he assumes that even newcomers to language creation and linguistic stuff in general would be aware of the fact that english is indeed one weird ass lang, and that they would be both interested in and able to make their lang original and different from their L1; he's, of course, wrong on both accounts, for a lot of them.

[Trajan]

Ok thanks guys but I don't want it to be all weird and freaky. I will post more stuff some may be close to English and some won't be at all.

Why do newbies think the English is "normal" and everything else is "weird and freaky"?

And what would you call yourself, may I ask?

[Gaxa]

Strange, like everything else in the world.

[Cathbad]

On the Long March of people and pigs from SE Asia:

And he must not meet anyone else, in order for the pigs to get to the PIE homeland in any reasonable length of time without being stolen or bought or killed or having to star in lengthy demonstrations on this new product for the Proto-Dravidians, or the Proto-Uralics, or the Proto-Altaics, or the Proto-Dene-Caucasians, or whatever other Proto-people were to be encountered.

[finlay]

If you've got any real linguistic argument relevant to the subject, I'd be glad to hear it. Otherwise, you'd better shut up

hahahaha irony

[Mbwa]

i am a heron. i ahev a long neck and i pick fish out of the water w/ my beak. if you dont repost this comment on 10 other pages i will fly into your kitchen tonight and make a mess of your pots and pans

OMG I THOT IT WAS A JOK BUT MY KICHEN IS A MESS!!1!!

Sadly accurate.

[캉탁]

[Kereb]

Because he assumes that even newcomers to language creation and linguistic stuff in general would be aware of the fact that english is indeed one weird ass lang, and that they would be both interested in and able to make their lang original and different from their L1; he's, of course, wrong on both accounts, for a lot of them.

He'd be entitled to be surprised if these newcomers were coming to language creation through a previous interest in linguistic stuff. Which is rarely the case any more.

[Viktor77]

Because he assumes that even newcomers to language creation and linguistic stuff in general would be aware of the fact that english is indeed one weird ass lang, and that they would be both interested in and able to make their lang original and different from their L1; he's, of course, wrong on both accounts, for a lot of them.

He'd be entitled to be surprised if these newcomers were coming to language creation through a previous interest in linguistic stuff. Which is rarely the case any more.

I know, I miss the good 'ol days when conlanging was an exclusive club reserved only for well-bred white academic folks.

[Kereb]

How do you even GET to exclusivity, and especially to racism, from that?

Was that ""clever""?

Jesus Herbert Walker Christ, you just keep breaking record after record for how fucking impaired someone can be at Getting Shit.

I do not remember, back in 2001, 2002, etc. so many people who had never had an interest in linguistics, never even been curious about how languages work, never bothered to go learn anything about another language, having the impression that they should create a language. Maybe I'm seeing the past through rose-coloured glasses (yeah, I got accused of that). But I remember all the people I would talk to about conlanging back then had at least been interested in languages before deciding they wanted to make one of their own.
Expecting people to have an interest and a curiosity in what they're doing is hardly the same as wanting to lock them out of the club.

How the fuck do you even have conversations, or manage to get your shoes on the right feet in the morning, Viktor? Good god.

[Viktor77]

First of all, I was using Pthug logic which allows for large leaps. Secondly, did you ever think that people can learn about languages through creating a conlang and having it critiqued by an online community? Sure it's nice to have a former interest in linguistics, but that doesn't mean you can't build an interest through the process of conlanging. I don't see what's inherently wrong with doing that either, as you indirectly claim by referring to the good 'ol days of the past.

[Pthagnar]

fuck you too, cunt

[Nortaneous]

First of all, I was using Pthug logic which allows for large leaps.

the difference here being that at least pthug usually makes some sort of sense

also there is a difference between exclusivity and expecting people to at least do the MINIMAL fucking amount of research before posting their shit. if someone finds this place, they probably know about zompist's site (and if they don't, they can find it pretty easily) and the LCK is linked pretty obviously from there. not to mention the fact that IPA is used enough in conlang-related pages that people should eventually realize that those funny symbols actually mean something and they should probably learn what they mean

[Xephyr]

QUOTE THREAD

[LinguistCat]

QUOTE THREAD

There. Better now Xepher?

[TomHChappell]

.