Hoaxes

[David Graddol]

In message  <3A0BC61F.17D086A0 at ruc.dk>
          Hartmut Haberland <hartmut at RUC.DK> wrote:

> I don't know if it is against the spirit of globalisation and democracy
> to post an item in a lesser used language (German) on this list, but
> after David Graddol's comment on hoaxes I came to think of this virus
> warning I received a while ago ... especially since it (predictably)
> contains the appeal to authorities we have discussed.
>
> If you don't read German, accept my apologies and just skip the
> following (or do like the Medieval monks who wrote "Graeca sunt, non
> leguntur" instead of Greek quotes in the mss. they copied [It's Greek,
> it is not supposed to be read]).
>

I think it is very relevant to both the topic of critical
language study and globalisation. I'm fascinated by the way that
this particular sub-genre has been reproduced in languages other
than English. It suggests that English is not so hegemonic in
this domain as it often suggested, and that the generic resources
of other languages are indeed being extended to meet the new
need. Are there examples of the hoax genre in other languages?


David