Response to JL

Fri Nov 12 15:52:46 UTC 2010

If one uses gmail, one can mute a thread, thereby ignoring all posts that
flow from a particular subject heading. I would suspect other mail readers
have a similar function.

On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 10:40 AM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Response to JL
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> My understanding is that Ron would like to see only posts of a certain
> weightiness on issues known to be of interest to him.
>
> I'm ready to meet him half way. As it happens, when I post a thread with a
> sensational title like "Bad Girls Ride Again," I expect that members who
> don't share my sociolinguistic and semantic interests will tolerantly
> delet=
> e
> it, as I do unto them. My assumption is, however, that media usage is
> significant to language history, not least because it's broadcast to
> millions of people. And whether an item like "masculine" _emerita_ at an
> academic website is a typo or a straw in the epicene wind is beyond my
> ability to determine.
>
> Though expressed in the nicest way, Ron's master list of people who "REALLY
> have something valuable to say" is neither comprehensive, courteous, nor
> collegial. Only a supreme act of will could have kept the poster's own name
> off of it.
>
> When, a while ago, Ron solicited my opinion of a paper he'd written on the
> etymology of "crack cocaine," neither of us thought it was a "trivial"
> question, though from certain perspectives nothing could be more so. I read
> the paper with interest and commended Ron for his research and conclusions.
> Am still waiting for a thank-you.
>
> If bandwidth and expense are issues, I can hardly believe that the ADS so
> advised Ron while overlooking the rest of us. He just doesn't post that
> much.
>
> Until I hear otherwise from an ADS officer, or from a consensus of posters
> and lurkers, I see no reason for anybody to be discouraged from
> sharing items of linguistic interest with colleagues and to discuss related
> matters in this space.
>
> I hope too that Paul will rejoin us.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 10:55 AM, Paul Frank <paulfrank at post.harvard.edu
> >wr=
> ote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Paul Frank <paulfrank at POST.HARVARD.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Response to JL
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> >
> > I hear you. As a former on-again and off-again lurker, as a
> > non-linguist and non-lexicographer, and as recent culprit of posting
> > quite a bit of inconsequential chitchat, I promise to quit wasting
> > bandwidth and to going back to lurking and learning what I can from
> > you all. I do think this is a valuable list with a number of very
> > knowledgeable people. Thank you for allowing non-professionals to look
> > on and listen in.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Paul
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 4:18 PM, Ronald Butters <ronbutters at aol.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I welcome JL's request (though I thought I'd covered his query in my
> > posting duplicated below).
> > >
> > > At heart, I'm asking for politeness and consideration and a recognition
> > that ADS-L is public space, sponsored by the American Dialect Society
> (wh=
> ich
> > is, I assume, paying the bill to keep it running and, moreover to store
> > FOREVER everything that is posted here). This is not a private chat group
> > for posting whatever pops into one's head at the moment. In my view, the
> > worst offenses include:
> > >
> > > 1. One-line responses that say little more than "I agree" or "Good
> joke=
> ,
> > guy!"
> > > 2. Postings that report simple typographical errors, common "misuses"
> o=
> f
> > words, and errors in Latin grammar (people have been making errors
> inform=
> ing
> > Latin endings for centuries, which is why we have, e.g., Italian and
> > French).
> > > 3. Grandstanding postings that do little more than say, "woo-hoo, look
> =
> at
> > how clever I am, I know that [e.g.] 'otiose' does not refer to breakfast
> > cereal."
> > > 4. Reportings of commonplace dialect features and slang terms that one
> > spots on television or radio (or are overheard in the local supermarket)
> > that are well-documented in dictionaries and readily available scholarly
> > literature.
> > > 5. "Data" that is really only vague reminiscence.
> > >
> > > I realize that there are fuzzy edges to all of these areas of concern.
> =
> I
> > am not asking for List Police to step in, I am asking only for
> self-polic=
> ing
> > of a kind that is apparently pretty much nonexistent here. I also support
> > ADS-L as ADS's outreach to the community at large, and I would hate to
> se=
> e
> > this turn into a place where nonlinguists felt unwelcome. In fact, to my
> > mind some of the worst offenders are people who actually know a good deal
> > about linguistics, but who treat ADS-L as their own club for exchanging
> > witticisms, reminiscing about their old army days, or simply showing off
> =
> how
> > much linguistic trivia they they know.
> > >
> > > If you are posting more than three or four times in a single day or
> mor=
> e
> > than seven times a week you are very likely hogging the space. Emulate
> > people who REALLY have something valuable to say (e.g., David Bowie,
> Arno=
> ld
> > Zwicky, Charles Doyle, Fred Shapiro, David Barnhart, Matt Gordon, Jesse
> > Sheidlower, Ben Zimmer, Gerald Cohen, George Thompson, Steve Kleinedler,
> =
> et
> > al.). If you have several minor things to report, put them all in one
> > posting.
> > >
> > > I have repeatedly suggested that simply putting a limit on the number
> o=
> f
> > postings per day would go a long way towards solving the problem as I
> > perceive it. This is what many similar list-servs do. I don't understand
> =
> why
> > the list-serv silently rejects individual postings that have an
> > (unannounced) number of embeddings but will not reject excessive numbers
> =
> of
> > daily postings from individuals. Sometimes, the embeddings are useful in
> > creating the context for understanding of the posting. On the other
> hand,=
>  to
> > paraphrase Dr. Johnson said, imminent execution greatly concentrates the
> > mind.
> > > l
> > > On Nov 11, 2010, at 8:25 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >
> > >> It may well be that we on the list have little of real interest to
> sha=
> re
> > >> with the world or even with fellow specialists.
> > >>
> > >> This troubles me, though it's surely hard to compete with runaway
> > deficits,
> > >> emergent pandemics, near-earth asteroids, a Sarah Palin reality show,
> > >> and mad bombers in Yemen reaching out to touch someone. =C2 Now those
> > things
> > >> are interesting!
> > >>
> > >> If Ron would tell us directly what sort of communications he'd prefer
> =
> to
> > >> see, I for one would try to oblige.
> > >>
> > >> JL
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> On Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 7:54 PM, Sam Clements <SClements at neo.rr.com>
> > wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >>> -----------------------
> > >>> Sender: =C2  =C2  =C2  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.E
> =
> DU>
> > >>> Poster: =C2  =C2  =C2  Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
> > >>> Subject: =C2  =C2  =C2 Re: RE "Shoot beaver"?
> > >>>
> > >>>
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
> > >>>
> > >>> ----- Original Message -----
> > >>> From: "Ronald Butters" <ronbutters at AOL.COM>
> > >>>
> > >>>> Aboout 95% of what gets posted here is just rambling anecdote or
> > comment
> > >>>> on somebody or other's typographical error or grammatical or lexical
> > >>>> "mistake," or some regional or social dialectal feature that could
> b=
> e
> > >>>> found in a dictionary. Or worse, just somebody saying something
> like=
> ,
> > "I
> > >>>> agree" or "Thanks for that" or "How clever I am, I studied Latin 50
> > years
> > >>>> ago." I spend a considerable part of each day just deleting messages
> > >>>> without opening them: after you have read one entry in a thread, it
> =
> is
> > >>>> gnerallyu pretty clear that the rest is not worth bothering with.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> I guess this just means that I need to go the way of Roger Shuy,
> > Dennis
> > >>>> Preston, etc., and sign off from the list. The occasional
> interestin=
> g
> > >>> item
> > >>>> is increasingly buried in a sea of trivial anecdote. A lot of people
> > seem
> > >>>> to find the list as it has become is really what they want to do in
> > their
> > >>>> retirement or =C2 in their cups or whatever. Assuming that my dues
> i=
> n
> > the
> > >>>> American Dialect Society are not being horribly strained by the cost
> > of
> > >>>> recording all this junk for posterity in the University of Georgia's
> > >>>> computer archive, I should just slink away in silence.
> > >>>>
> > >>>
> > >>> But, you won't, just as you didn't when your comments drove away
> > posters
> > >>> such as Barry Popik. =C2 Not that Barry wasn't carrying things to
> > extremes,
> >  >>> but
> > >>> your comments at that time certainly influenced his postings as well
> =
> as
> > >>> mine.
> > >>>
> > >>> Sorry to be such a burden.
> > >>>
> > >>> Sam Clements
> > >>>
> > >>> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >>>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >>
> > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> > >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --=20
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org