Fascinating Story

[mummifiedstalin]

www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/12/24/121224fa_fact_foer?currentPage=all

I just thought this was a fascinating story. It's about a "conlanger," or someone who makes up their own language. This guy's creation has been seen by people all over the world as potentially the most logically clear language ever conceived. Even he admits that it's not really practical to use it, but it doesn't change his accomplishment.

But what's also fascinating is the story of how it's been received, not only by other "conlangers" and linguists, but also by certain...questionable...organizations.

Worth a read. The guy also has a remarkably grounded attitude for someone obviously given to weird obsessions.

[Mitchell]

I can't help but wonder how much shorter that article would have been if it was written in Ithkuil.

[mummifiedstalin]

Heh. But how long would it take you decipher the nuance of each word.

Personally, I liked the terrorist twist.

But a lot of the other stuff, the Sapir-Worff hypothesis and psycholinguistics stuff -- I was really into that during and right after college, so it brought a lot of those old ideas back.