LL-L "Administrativia" 2004.01.22 (05) [E]

Lowlands-L lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
Thu Jan 22 18:54:19 UTC 2004 

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L O W L A N D S - L * 22.JAN.2004 (05) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: R. F. Hahn <lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net>
Subject: Administrativia

Dear Lowlanders,

First of all, happy New Year to all of you who celebrate it right now, and
all best wishes for the Year of the Monkey!  (I hope this year won't be too
capricious.)

Since the beginning of the month we have been joined by a number of people,
and I would like to welcome them all.  Their place of residence are listed
below.

A couple of the "new" subscribers are actually returning ones.  Welcome
back!  The one you have heard from so far is our Austrian friend Georg
Deutsch, writing to us from the Netherlands.  It's great to have you back in
the fold, Georg.  I just knew you wouldn't be able to stay away for very
long.  ;-)

Please, everyone, make sure you are familiar with our rules and guidelines:
http://www.lowlands-l.net/index.php?page=rules

Several of you have been taking me up on the offer of having me put their
subscriptions on vacation mode, and they may agree with me that it is quite
easy and convenient for all concerned.  All you need to do is send me a
message announcing from which date until which date you want me to put you
on vacation mode.  You will receive no LL-L mailings during that period.

If you wish to reduce the number of mailings from LL-L, please write to me
and request your subscription to be changed to digest mode.

Some people ask if it is possible to get only mailings that are relevant to
their specific interests.  The answer is "no."  Firstly, it is technically
pretty much impossible, and sorting postings out and distrubting them
according to special interest "by hand" would be asking way too much of me
and other administrators.  Secondly -- and some applicants and new
subscribers do not seem to understand this -- this would run counter to the
spirit and intent of this list.  A very important, if not *the* basic
purpose of Lowlands-L is to bring people and related languages and cultures
together to allow them to learn about and celebrate their similarities and
differences.  Our information sharing and discussions constantly show us
that hardly anything can be studied in isolation, that looking across fences
is helpful, if not essential in understanding even the most specialized
topic.  If all you are interested in is learning one specific language or
studying one specific aspect of culture or history without reference to
related ones, well, sorry, then this is not the list for you.

Also, some of you have changed their email addresses and wisely informed me
of this.  It is easy for me to change the address of your subscription.
Anything else is bound to lead to complications.

Once in a while I get email messages or subscription applications from
former subscribers mentioning that they had been unsubscribed, and they
wonder what they had committed to provoke that.  Firstly, please note that
in the nearly nine years of Lowlands-L I have "booted out" only three
people, and their behavior most definitely warranted this.  Yes, we have had
other "troublemakers," especially "flame-baiters," but other subscribers'
reception (including the most powerful weapon: ignoring) soon enough caused
them to leave voluntarily (and go on to the next list).  So, unless you
*know* you are perceived as troublesome (and you can be assured that I would
send you a couple of off-list reprimands and warnings), do not feel alarmed
if you find yourself off the List one day.  This tends to happen when the
mailserver or I unsubscribe you because mail could not be delivered to your
account for a certain length of time and attempts resulted in numerous error
messages.  Should this ever happen to you, all you need to do is write to me
or go to the LL-L homepage and submit a new application.  However, make sure
the technical problems have been solved.  This includes making sure that
Lowlands-L mailing are acceptable to your junkmail or "decency" filters.

In case I have not already mentioned this, please note that Glenn Simpson's
Northumbrian translation of our welcoming web page is posted:
http://www.lowlands-l.net/index.php?page=northumbrian
Thanks, Glenn!

If you wish to translate the welcoming page (and also the application form)
into any other Lowlands language variety (any language or dialect), by all
means do so, and send it to me.

I would love to see more material posted in more language varieties, and I
know I am not the only one.  (It would be nice if you could add a
translation or synopsis in a "major" language to help people to learn
reading your variety.)  Please don't be shy!  No one will "laugh" at you
here.  Please do not feel intimidated by what you might perceive as
"sophisticated" or "scientific" postings you find here.  This is a place for
everyone and for every level and interest, as long as what you post is of
relevance to this list.

Also, if you are a learner of a Lowlands language variety, by all means use
it in postings.  No, you do not have to be able to use it perfectly.
Occasionally I try to signal this by writing in Afrikaans, Dutch or Scots,
three Lowlands languages I am in the process of learning.  (I might take up
Frisian again, so be forewarned, folks.)  I try my best, but I know it isn't
perfect, and I am aware of the possibility of making mistakes or even
faux-pas.  So what if I do?  Surely a learner can be forgiven for this.
Personally I do not mind if people correct me on the List, though I am
grateful for hints and corrections in private correspondence
(sassisch at yahoo.com).  If you feel like helping a learner by correcting
their language use but are in doubt about that particular person's level of
sensitivity, just send them a nice and encouraging personal message.  I am
sure they will appreciate it.  I often attempt to signal that I am not
humorless about my language learning, and I am oftentimes deliberately
"creative," in the case of Scots in part in order to "entertain" our
Scots-speaking friends, and in part because I have learned that by "playing"
with a language one learns allows one to more easily explore its rules and
"limitations" or "boundaries" (as children do).  I try not to offend folks
in the process, always assume someone would let me know if I did (and I hope
most people on the List know me well enough that they feel free to do so).
Naturally I am prepared to do all of the above for folks who learn varieties
I know better than they do.

Regards, and thanks for your support!

Reinhard "Ron" F. Hahn
Founder & Administrator, Lowlands-L
lowlands-l at lowlands-l.net
http://www.lowlands-l.net

***
Places of Residence of New Lowlanders since January 2, 2004:

   Canada:
        Alberta:
           Edmonton [1]
        Ontario:
           Woodstock [1]
   Belgium:
        Eastern Flanders:
           Lierde [1]
   Germany:
        North Rhine-Westphalia:
           Duisburg [1]
   Italy:
        Livorno:
           Livorno [1]
   Netherlands:
        Gelderland:
           Appeldoorn [1]
        South Holland:
           Lisse [1]
   Pakistan:
        Sindh:
           Karachi [1]
   Qatar:
        Dohar [1]
   United Kingdom:
        England:
           London [1]
           Warkshire:
              Lemington Spa [1]
   United States of America:
        California:
           Bakersfield [1]
           Elk Grove [1]
        Florida:
           Tampa [1]
        Indiana:
           Indianapolis [1]
        Kansas:
           Shawnee [1]
        Missouri:
           St. Louis [1]
        South Carolina:
           Columbia [1]
        Tennessee:
           Chattanooga [1]

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