LL-L 'Members' 2007.01.13 (02) [E]

[Lowlands-L List]

L O W L A N D S - L - 13 January 2007 - Volume 02

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From: Arthur Jones <arthurobin2002 at yahoo.com>
Subject: LL-L 'Members' 2007.01.10 (05) [E]

To: All family, Lowlands-L and beyond:

Piet Bult schreev:

,From: Stellingwerfs Eigen < info at stellingwerfs-eigen.nl>
<ubject: LL-L 'farewell'

<Hi all,
<Today I am exactly one year reader on this list and received appr.
1.900L-mails.
<In the same time I submitted appr. 160 contributions, a contribution to the
100 <Words-table and an introduction (who disapeared behind the horizon some
time <ago for an unknown reason?).
<I'm very sorry to let You all know that for me the benefit of joy on this
list is <doubtful in comparison to the time I spend with reading and writing
all those.
<My special thanks for to the Great Kahuna for having so much patience with
me.
<So, I'm (already) off now and wish You all: "All the best".
<With a last 'goodbye' and
<Mit een vrundelike groet uut Stellingwarf (Fryslân, NL),
<Piet Bult

Dear Folks, and all of you,

I have seldom read a sadder *farvel. *

Once the turning point came, once the ink joined to the paper, shadows
shifting in the light of white wax candle over a nocturne table of oaken,
flemish-friesisch sorrow, there was nothing left but to count, count, the
wondrous things that came to us from Stellingwarf.

And, dear Piet, you make us count. I'm sure your tally is correct; and you
gave more than you got. I, for one, was derelict.

The stunning verse, the earth-real talk, the people's market-speak: The tiny
 differentials that make us all unique.

The whole time, I was listening. And I was not alone, but speaking for
myself, I know that there was simply too much to record, too much to learn,
too much to let sound---and so little time to absorb and respond.

Many of you know that I cannot enter into close discussions of the Lowlands
kind because despite the years I spent in Flanders, Netherlands and the
Niederelbe, you simply outclass me in basic knowledge. Although I
understand, somewhat, the morphology and syntax of Low Saxon tongues and
their heart-breaking history, I cannot but read, hear, and appreciate what
you have presented to us. As I had nothing to add to the dialogue, I
remained silent.

Perhaps that is the lesson to be learned. Had I spoken out, even once, to
thank you and your friends for the wonderful and imaginative education you
presented to us on a silver platter, then I would feel less at fault than I
do this evening.

You have not missed the mark, my friend. I have no doubt that there are
hundreds out there who were equally impressed ---and challenged--- by your
contributions. But if I had written in to my Lowlands-L colleagues to
indicate that the richness of this bunch of threads is one of the strongest
arguments yet for our going to the barricades to fight for these muscular,
faithful, stalwart and truthful old tongues--- I was afraid that my public
show of emotion would be quickly ridiculed by more erudite linguists than I,
to whom it all dissolves into a vat of sound shifts of mathematical interest
alone.

So I failed to speak up. But, Piet, please know that your efforts are not in
vain. Sooner or later, you will gain the support of souls with more
courageous fibre than my own.

I cannot blame you for leaving us: I would have said the same to
Zarathustra. But your gift remains. And that's what counts.

Mit frundelike groeten,

Arthur A. Jones
arthur.jones at yahoo.com
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