From nsn  Sat Mar  6 22:49:36 2010
From: nsn (Nick Nicholas)
Subject: Re: Where is our JL?
To: lojbab@grebyn.com (Logical Language Group)
Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1993 17:32:42 +1000 (EST)
Cc: nsn (Nick Nicholas)
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Message-ID: <CAVQKkiNxR.A.sRH.Ay0kLB@chain.digitalkingdom.org>

To Logical Language Group respond I thus:

#Well, glad to see that Lojban is good for something, if only for drawing you in
#a direction you seem naturally suited for - you seem a bit too personable to
#grind away at drawings and designs without having much excuse for working
#with others - and your work on multiple conlangs already told me you had a
#grasp of language that is rare.

Well, my grasp was rarer than it was, and I'm not as sure about being
personable, but yes, this neck of the woods does seem more suited to me
now than anything in Electrical Engineering. I think of myself now in
some office doing menialities, and shudder...

My previous compliments notwithstanding :) , I do suspect there is a 
feeling of jadedness with the old hacks in Lojban, resulting in them not
producing much text. For myself, at least, the overwhelming weight of
changes and fine-tuning has made a mess of my reference material, and
I really can't wait for publication. In fact, when I get time, I'm 
considering writing a Cafe allegory for it. (I won't be writing a Cafe piece 
about my recent romantic misadventures though, I think; more self-respect,
that way...). In that light, the recent noise Jorge and Rob Brady have been 
making may well turn out to be a good thing: the Young Turks, as it were, 
come to breathe some life back into the empire... Both of them, I must say, 
though superficially disruptive, have shown a good deal of concern and
interest in the Language.

#There will be plenty of English language order stuff - you DID review the
#outline, didn't you?  And you saw Cowan's KWIC processing of the gismu
#list.  

Yes. I had similar processing in mind for the jvoste. And at the least,
put the gismu glosses I pulled out of the jvoste, back in.

#I intend to do more than one translation of a big list of words - that's what
#the Eaton effort was all about, and it has 8000 words.  Then there is
#Harrison's Multi-Conlang Dictionary which has a list of some 1000-1500 words
#if I recall.  I don't know how many there are in your Esp-o based list,
#of course.  

The radikaro has some 2000; any such comparable list will do, really.

#Remember that I got into Lojban by being JCB's volunteer to edit the dictionary,
#and my main interest is on expanding that dictionary enormously while keeping
#and/or improving its qulaity level.  Once I get the initial books done, i 
#suspect that will be a major area of my continued work.

Yes, and I really wish you luck with it; particularly, I wish you get time
for it eventually, amongst all the other work you'll have coming up!

*******************************************************************************
 A freshman once observed to me:         Nick Nicholas am I, of Melbourne, Oz.
 On the edge of the Rubicon,             nsn@munagin.ee.mu.oz.au (IRC: nicxjo)
 men don't go fishing.                   CogSci and CompSci & wannabe Linguist.
   - Alice Goodman, _Nixon In China_     Mail me! Mail me! Mail me! Or don't!!