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Date:      Mon, 27 May 2002 10:45:58 +0930
From:      Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog@FreeBSD.org>
To:        Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com>
Cc:        pgreen <polytarp@m-net.arbornet.org>, Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@online.fr>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Language in danger: Language loss
Message-ID:  <20020527104558.B43610@wantadilla.lemis.com>
In-Reply-To: <3CF17486.F06F3E6A@mindspring.com>
References:  <Pine.BSF.4.21.0205261919370.49175-100000@m-net.arbornet.org> <3CF17486.F06F3E6A@mindspring.com>

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On Sunday, 26 May 2002 at 16:49:26 -0700, Terry Lambert wrote:
> pgreen wrote:
>> On Sun, 26 May 2002, Terry Lambert wrote:
>>> pgreen wrote:
>>>> On Sun, 26 May 2002, Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
>>>>> Totally OT for FreeBSD, but people who were reading the thread on
>>>>> survival of small languages may be interested in this article:
>>>>> http://www.spectator.co.uk/bookreview.php3?table=old&section=current&issue=2002-05-25&id=997
>>>>
>>>> Huh?
>>>
>>> Your ability to think about certain concepts is constrained by the
>>> language(s) in which you are able to think.
>>
>> No, it isn't.
>
> Provide a counter example.

Done.

Of course, I can't communicate it to you, because to do that I would
have to put it in language.

Imagine you're driving down a crowded freeway and a car in front of
you suddenly stops.  You have to avoid it.  How do you do it?  "Well,
if I veer to the left, I may hit the gravel on the side of the road,
if I veer to the right, I may hit the central reservation, but there's
not enough space between the lanes for me to get through, so maybe the
gravel's the least risk"?  Of course not.  Putting thoughts into
language is too slow for your own thoughts.

Greg
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