Reminder: Ulster Scots

ejp10 ejp10 at psu.edu
Fri Apr 2 15:56:22 CEST 2010


Well...I am with Peter and Randy in that I didn't interpret the "BZZZT" response as "levity" either, but rather as dismissive.  Randy's information may have been incorrect, but since he is a newcomer, I would have preferred to see a more neutral approach in explaining why he was in error. 

FWIW - I serve on a "Ask a Linguist" panel and I do see some really outrageously ill-informed questions (sometimes the same one several times a year). While I am often tempted to reply with "Do you have any idea how ass-backwards that is?", I have found that a non-sarcastic tone with detailed, non-technical explanations have made people realize exactly why linguists think they way they do (and not just that they want to "ruin the English language").

I would add that if the language tag process is too intimidating, people may be tempted to implement their own codes just to avoid the registration process, and I am not sure that's a good development either. 

Elizabeth

Peter Constable wrote:

>> 
>> I couldn't have suggested a change to the proposal because I'm still trying to understand what relevant distinctions need to be made. Randy raised very good questions, and your response to him was "BZZZZZT!" This is not how I think this process should be managed.

Michael Everson wrote
> 
> Randy did not ask very good questions. Randy didn't read the documentation, because Randy though that "the Hamely Tongue and the one under consideration" were two different orthographies, when they are not. And then he got all in a huff about it because I attempted levity to defuse his error.




=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Elizabeth J. Pyatt, Ph.D.
Instructional Designer
Education Technology Services, TLT/ITS
Penn State University
ejp10 at psu.edu, (814) 865-0805 or (814) 865-2030 (Main Office)

210 Rider Building  (formerly Rider II)
227 W. Beaver Avenue
State College, PA   16801-4819
http://www.personal.psu.edu/ejp10/psu
http://tlt.psu.edu



More information about the Ietf-languages mailing list