LL-L "Introduction" 2005.01.24 (01) [E]

Tue Jan 25 01:37:47 UTC 2005

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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
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From: jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
Subject: LL-L "Introduction" 2005.01.23 (04) [E]

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Introduction

> P.S.: A word to Jonny: Some of us do not only *sound* like friends,
but we
> *are* friends.  Some of us go back a long way and have corresponded
and
> collaborated off the list, have even met each other in person. I dare
say > we
> are not exclusive cliques of cronies, and you don't need to hang
around
> for
> donkey years to be accepted.  We welcome anyone to join us, and this
> totally
> without regard to their origins, "races," ages, educational levels and
> specialties, genders, religions, sexual orientations, or whatever.
And,
> as
> I mentioned to you before, we stay away from seeing individuals as
> representatives of the countries, ethnic groups or whatever
communities
> they
> happen to be associated with.  We are all individuals that share
certain
> interests, and that's all that matters.

Sounds well!

***
My translation of Jonny's introduction:

Dear members of this worthy organization,

Before introducing myself, as you seem to request, I would like to say a
few
words to allow you to get an inkling of what makes me tick.

Beginning with a few weeks before I joined you I followed your
interesting
exchanges in your open archive. Your erudition has impressed me just as
much
as the friendly and courteous way you carry on your discussions.
Occasionally I sense almost something like friendship between individual
members.

I am afraid I can not reach your level. However, already as a young
person I
started being keen on everything that had anything to do with languages
and
their origins. It seems to me that in a gathering of people that pursue
more
or less identical goals I might be able to learn quite a bit if you
allow me
to and if I may occasionally ask the odd naïve question.

As to me, I am past the age of fifty and live near Bremerhaven in Lower
Saxony. In the earlier part of my life I was a manual worker at a
shipyard,
later one of the managers. At school and at work I learned a bit about
modern and old languages. Some of my friends and acquaintances were
specialists and inspired me to develop languages and related matters as
a
hobby area of interest.

I was fortunate in that I grew up with Low German (Low Saxon) as a
second
native language (after High German). This may well be the reason why I
am
particularly partial to the North Sea Germanic language groups. Little
wonder, thus, that I am pleased about the idea of your organization. It
seems to me that this is a very good place for investigating and
preserving
ancient linguistic connections and to shine a light or two into the
dark.

There are other, apparently similar Internet organizations. However, it
tends to become scary when you investigate them closely: they tend to be
pervaded by (not only German) racist, pseudo-elitist and totally fascist
garbage. And here it is quite the opposite: people occasionally stray
off to
topics, languages and communities that lie outside the self-imposed
parameters. I sure like that, for it points to global, open-minded ways
of
thinking. This encourages me to assume that this sort of thing applies
within the group as well.

Finally, in case I ever get lost in the area of old languages, I hope I
may
ask you for guidance. After all, sometimes it is necessary to listen to
the
opinions of like-minded people.

Best regards,
Jonny

     Sounds too well, I fear :-). I am afraid, that, if ever I should
start        answering in English, people won't believe this obvious
difference. But- thanks anyway.
As far as any publishing of my potrait is concerned: I'm still
thinking about that.

Yours

Jonny [Meibohm]

----------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Introduction

Don't worry, Jonny!  We are not going to pass the English version off as
your own translation. We'll add it to your other two versions and mention
that I translated it.  So you're off the hook as far as your English is
concerned.

Besides, no one (or no-one) here needs to be afraid of being judged on the
basis of their language proficiency.  If this were not so, I'd be sizzling
in the hottest of hell-fires by now for having butchered Dutch, Afrikaans,
Frisian, Scots and a host of other languages for years.  Besides, I found a
couple of embarrassing mistakes in my previous postings -- e.g. "right"
instead of "write"! -- but these days it takes a lot more to make me feel
embarrassed. This is one of the few but significant benefits of aging, as I
discovered.

As for the desirable picture, it is not mandatory, and I won't twist your
arm any further than saying that so far everyone who has contributed their
introduction to the anniversary pages has sent a pictures. Well, if we are
not worthy of beholding your undoubtedly preciously beauteous countenance,
then you could send a caricature of yourself, preferably wearing an
_Elbsegler_.  ;-)

Hold Di fuchtig!

Reinhard/Ron

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