It's been ages since I last posted here; the experience is not unlike visiting the park where one used to play as a child... But in a spurt of nostalgia I thought I'd try and re-enact a now lost thread that proved a fruitful source of conlang ideas.
Here's how it works: We start with an Original Text. Each poster then transforms the text by any rule-based transformation (it could be a phonological change, or an outright substitution cipher, encoding in ASCII... be creative). Then, after the text has been rendered unrecognizable, we try and create a conlang such that the resulting text can be understood as a "translation" of the Original Text.
For example, if we start with "Please call Stella" and end with "dqeigkmecs ckaqmug", we might say, "-mug is a polite imperative ending, Dqeigkmecs is a calque of 'Stella' in the accusative..." You get the idea.
So, let's begin with a classic:
Transformation: move all spaces and punctuation two places to the right.The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.
Your turn!Theno Rthwi Ndan dth esu Nwe redi sputingwh ichwa sth est rongerwh, enat r avelerca meal ongwr appedinaw a rmcl oakth. Eyag reedth atth eon ewh ofi rstsu cceededin ma kingth etr avelerta kehi scl oakof fsh ouldbe co nsideredst rongerth anth eot herth. Enth eno Rthwi Ndbl ewas ha rdas he co uldbu, tth emo rehe bl ewth emo recl oselydi dth etr avelerfo ldhi scl oakar oundhi man; dat la stth eno Rthwi Ndga veup th eat temptth. Enth esu Nsh inedou twa rmlyan, dim mediatelyth etr avelerto okof fhi scl oakan. Dso th eno Rthwi Ndwa sob ligedto co nfessth atth esu Nwa sth est rongerof th etw o.