At 12:21 PM Monday 6/29/2009, Matt Grimaldi wrote:
see below...
----- Original Message ----
From: Alberto Monteiro <[email protected]>
To: Killer Bs (David Brin et al) Discussion <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, June 29, 2009 5:32:29 AM
Subject: Re: Brin: Language
SPOILER ALERT
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Charlie Bell wrote:
>
> I do recall something about language in the Uplift books, but the
> much more blatant example is Marain in the Culture books - again
> designed to eliminate confuzzlement.
>
A REALLY BIG ONE!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
>The Galactic Languages were not designed to avoid ambiguity, they
>were designed to avoid _creativity_ (and testing the System) -
>it's in Heaven's Reach.
>
>Alberto Monteiro
I think that design feature was a major part of only *some* of the
languages (Gal Two?), as an utter lack of creativity or ambiguity
can be an asset for things like legal contracts and technical specs.
Which shows how diametrically different Galactic lawyers are to US
lawyers, who are frequently hired to find some way of making the
contract say the exact opposite of what it is meant to say because
one of the signatories wants to do what he wants rather than what he agreed to.
ObSF quote:
"In one respect at least the Martians are a happy people; they have
no lawyers." -- Edgar Rice Burroughs, "A Princess of Mars"
. . . ronn! :)
_______________________________________________
http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
