Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Leiss thinks that she can prohibit linguists to discuss certain topics.

[Stuart Robinson]

This is getting ridiculous. I don't want to see Leiss' widely condemned 
personal attack on Daniel Everett devolve into back-and-forth 
recriminations and national stereotyping. This list is for the discussion 
of linguistic typology. If you're going to do that, great. We all look 
forward to the discussion. If not, go elsewhere.

Regards,
Stuart Robinson

On Sat, 19 Dec 2009, Jan WOHLGEMUTH wrote:

> Dear Yuri,
> since you ask "what do you think", you might perhaps be interested in a 
> reply: I think that your post to this list was exactly the same as what you 
> criticized in Leiss' posting and entirely unnecessary.
>
> Several people already made clear that certain remarks and attitudes did not 
> befit a scientific discussion (list). Sarcastic attacks ad personam (or, even 
> worse, at all German professors) don't help at all to return to the topic of 
> the discussion and of the list.
>
> If your point was to criticize Leiss for her attempt to prohibit Everett from 
> discussing a topic, maybe you remember your own recent attempt to keep a 
> colleague from selling his books via this list.
>
> Yours,
> Jan
>
>
>
> Yuri Tambovtsev wrote:
>> 
> [...]
>
>> She is a professor and she has a secretary. This is why, nobody can 
>> criticize her. When I was in Germany in 1990 I learnt that a German 
>> professor speaks to a person only through a secretary. One should state his 
>> topic and tell the secretary. After that a German professor usually say 
>> through his secretary that she has no time to discuss this topic. This is 
>> why, Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Leiss thinks that she can prohibit linguists to 
>> discuss certain topics. What do you think? Be well, Yuri Tambovtsev, 
>> Novosibirsk, Russia
>