Nobody's Perfect Dept.

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

   The range of topics on ads-l is much broader than colloquialisms/catch phrases, but in any case, the importance of  this latter topic should not be underestimated---either for the detective work/scholarship required for an understanding of the origin of their items or for the importance of those items for the vast richness of our language.

    As for the continued presentation of Mr. Zurinkska's e-mails on this list, we've really reached the point of diminishing returns.  Mr. Zurinskas has had an opportunity to bring his ideas to the attention of ads-l and thereby establish contact with any likeminded members.  He has also had the opportunity to persuade others to adopt his positions.  My impression is that the success rate on both scores is very low, but, hey, nobody said that being a visionary is easy.

     I personally find it embarrassing to see anyone with very limited expertise in a scholarly area join a group with members who do have great expertise in the area and then berate the experts for not going along with his way of seeing things.  A bit of deference towards those with profound knowledge of a subject would really be in order--certainly for someone whose efforts are supposed to better the world.

     I would therefore recommend that Mr. Zurinksas continue his discussion with likeminded researchers and cease the ads-l dialogue.
Very basic netiquette would call for withdrawing from a situation such as the present one, which is producing all heat and no light.

Gerald Cohen

________________________________

From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Tom Zurinskas
Sent: Mon 12/18/2006 7:08 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Nobody's Perfect Dept.

<snip>

You can throw me out and return to talking about catch phrases or
colloquialisms.  I've offered to share my work with those who would like to
make reading and phonemic awareness simpler for kids and adults through
truespel.

I've tried to contact this forum via springdoo.com so that I can demonstrate
what I've been writing about.  In the future we need a real vocal forum to
evaluate dialects.  If anyone knows of one, please let me know.


<snip>

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