Indiana bans linguistics

[victor steinbok]

The whole thing is a bit surreal, but ...

"phonetics" means "transcription"
"numbers" means something like "NUM83R" or like the Rhode Island plate
"4Q2" that I spotted about 500 feet from my house in MA
"translation" really means "transliteration", otherwise is makes little
sense. If someone wanted to translate a euphemism used in another language
(e.g., "eggs" for "balls"), I doubt it would raise an eyebrow. On the other
hand, one has to wonder why anyone would use a insult to describe his/her
own car... tastes vary, I suppose. Conversely, it may also mean that
obscenities in foreign languages are prohibited. As such, the word
"translation" is still wrong, as it may not communicate the full meaning.
But I did spot a WI plate in Chicago that read "KURWA". As I said, tastes
vary.

VS-)


On Fri, May 9, 2014 at 2:08 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

> On May 9, 2014, at 12:51 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>
> > Good stuff... now on Language Log:
> >
> > http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=12309
>
> Perhaps partly a question of scope. The key condition is
>
> (8) Uses linguistics, numbers, and phonetics, translations from foreign
> languages, or upside-down or reverse reading to reference any other
> prohibited numeric and letter combination.
>
> If we interpret it as
>
> (8) Uses linguistics, numbers, and phonetics, translations from foreign
> languages, or [upside-down or reverse reading to reference any other
> prohibited numeric and letter combination].
>
> then the use of linguistics is ruled out (as, however, is the use of
> numbers, which seems somewhat implausible as a banned category).  If we
> read it as
>
> (8) Uses [linguistics, numbers, and phonetics, translations from foreign
> languages, or upside-down or reverse reading to reference any other
> prohibited numeric and letter combination].
>
> then linguistics (etc.) is banned only as a way to reference "prohibited
> numeric and letter combination", which sounds more reasonable, although I'm
> still not sure exactly what counts.  Of course this is Indiana, land of
>
> WATCH YOUR SPEED.  WE ARE.
>
> so all bets are off.
>
> LH

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