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From: elna@netcom.com (Esperanto League N America)
Subject: tinkerers redux 
Message-ID: <elnaE77FnH.DAF@netcom.com>
Organization: Esperanto League for North America, Inc.
References: <276@vision25.demon.co.uk> <brgE760JI.4oJ@netcom.com> <332d53a0.243232@nntp.best.com> <brgE7706u.93I@netcom.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 1997 20:30:53 GMT
Lines: 47
Sender: elna@netcom18.netcom.com

brg@netcom.com (Bruce R. Gilson) writes in a recent posting (reference <brgE7706u.93I@netcom.com>):
>In article <332d53a0.243232@nntp.best.com>,
>Don HARLOW <don@donh.vip.best.com> wrote:
>>On Mon, 17 Mar 1997 02:06:54 GMT, brg@netcom.com (Bruce R. Gilson)
>>wrote:
>
>>>Anyone with half an open mind can see that Novial is far easier than Esperanto,
>>>more esthetically pleasing, and a thousand-fold more suited to the purpose
>>>than Esperanto.
>>>

Where is Ralph Edwards now to complain about "advocating" conlangs???

>>Now what person with an open mind has ever come to that conclusion???
>
>Well, of course, we may differ on what constitutes an open mind. I will not
>even cite myself, though I think my mind is more open than you might think;
>I started off as a convinced Interlingua-advocate, and subsequently was wooed
>away from my chosen IAL three times: to Ido, Intal, and Novial.
>
>But if you had read the Auxlang list, you'd find out that, except for a
>diehard group of "Esperanto ueber alles" fanatics, just about everyone who
>posts there would agree with my statement quoted above.
>
Again let me cite the distinction between conlang "tinkerers" & inventors,
on the one hand, and conlang *users* on the other. It might well be that
many tinkerers believe that Novial is a better arena for their passtime, 
because it is still a *project* without a significant body of users to
have established linguistic norms. Esperanto is no more open to forced
changes than is English, Portuguese or any other language.
Using language like "diehard group of 'Esperanto ueber alles' fanatics"
reveals your lack of willingness to understand this important difference.
Esperanto users do not believe that it is a perfect language, nor that
there can be a perfect language. If you want to construct or polish a
planned language, fine! Have at it! But why should you expect the 
millions who already enjoy the fruits of using Esperanto to abandon that
language for the sake of a new, unproven, unfinished, unsupported conlang??
If Novial has broad support among members of the Auxlang list, then you
should have a nice kernel of support from which to grow. Good luck with
your project!


-- 
Miko SLOPER              elna@netcom.com              USA  (510) 653 0998
Direktoro de la          ftp.netcom.com:/pub/el/elna   fax (510) 653 1468 
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