The language of ...

[Mapraputa Is]

"Scholars tell us that there are many ways to communicate through language: English, the language of business; Russian, the language of debaters; French being the language of lovers; and Spanish, the language of God."
http://www.kpvi.com/index.cfm?page=nbcheadlines.cfm&ID=21281

[Mark Fletcher]

Does that mean that Russians are master debaters?

I...

*Runs for cover*

[Max Habibi]

No, I think it means they like to debate. I'd argue there's a difference.

M

[Michael Ernest]

"Mass debaters" is the phrase I think you want.

[Mark Fletcher]

Originally posted by Michael Ernest:
"Mass debaters" is the phrase I think you want.

*bows*

Thank you very much!

*Picks up book of bad jokes and starts to amend joke #361 - Debating Joke*

[Mapraputa Is]

I think, it means that due to some quirks in their history, Russians didn't use to have much of a good debate, really. Now they can't have enough of it. Try to find a couple of pathological arguers, chances are they will be Russians.

[stara szkapa]

Originally posted by Mapraputa Is:
I think, it means that due to some quirks in their history, Russians didn't use to have much of a good debate, really. Now they can't have enough of it.

Presidential elections is the best example of Russian dabate. Am I sarcastic?

Originally posted by Mapraputa Is:
Try to find a couple of pathological arguers, chances are they will be Russians.

They must be Jewish Russians.

[Mapraputa Is]

Happy Yom Kippur to all Russians!

[Mapraputa Is]

There is a blog about languages, which I visit often, LanguageHat. Some statistics on comment numbers:

An entry about William Carlos Williams' poetry - 9
Nicaragua sign language - 6
Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez being barred from the International Congress of the Spanish Language - 9
Italian as it's spoken in New York and New Jersey - 13
Russian names pronunciation - 35

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

I think this thread actually contains a joke about both Russia and linguistics that went right over Map's head.

L'Shana Tovah!

[Mapraputa Is]

That's possible, especially considering that I am not sure what "went over" means here.

Dictionary.com said:

go over
1) To gain acceptance or approval: a new style that didn't go over.
2) To examine or review: go over the test scores.

But I suspect Ernest means something rather opposite...

[Helen Thomas]

One Spanish inquisition and they lay claim to the language of God ?

Latin is the language of God and Italian the language of love, IMB.

Though Christians other than Catholics may think otherwise.

Before Buddha theChinese worshipped the same God described in the Bible.
The proof is in Ancient Chinese characters.

Ancient Chinese characters
This site claims that Chinese id the Language of God.
[ September 25, 2004: Message edited by: Helen Thomas ]

[Michael Ernest]

I remember presentations of a similar sort proving that Satan inhabited rock music. These works of scholarship might otherwise fade into oblivion were it not for the dedication of campus groups in search of truth like Soldiers for Christ or Maranatha.

[Helen Thomas]

Dance of the Hebrew Alphabet.

A for Apple, B for Boat with Hand gestures rather than pictures. http://www.meru.org/Gestures/Atbashgest.html
Also known as charades.

[kayal cox]

Most Indians would consider Sanksrit to be the Divine Language, the language of the Gods, the language of sacredness

[Alan Wanwierd]

Originally posted by Jesse Torres:

How is Spanish the language of God?

Perhaps that should be "Spanish - the language of cruel sadistic torture in the name of God?"

remember - nobody expects Spanish Inquisition!

[Mapraputa Is]

There was a meme on the Interenet, something like "Sanskrit is the best language to use with computers (variant: for software development). Here are some quotes:

Sanskrit is a scientific and systematic language. Its grammar is perfect and has attracted scholars worldwide.

Recently well-known linguists and computer-scientists have expressed the opinion that Sanskrit is the best language for use with computers. Sanskrit has a perfect grammar which has been explained to us by the world's greatest grammarian Panini.
http://www.vandemataram.com/html/diduknow/language.htm

Another one:

Words in Sanskrit are instances of pre-defined classes, a concept that drives object oriented programming [OOP] today. For example, in English 'cow' is a just a sound assigned to mean a particular animal. But if you drill down the word 'gau' --Sanskrit for 'cow'-- you will arrive at a broad class 'gam' which means 'to move. From these derive 'gamanam', 'gatih' etc which are variations of 'movement'. All words have this OOP approach, except that defined classes in Sanskrit are so exhaustive that they cover the material and abstract --indeed cosmic-- experiences known to man.
http://www.a42.com/node/view/173

If this is what they mean, then some other languages share this trait, for example, Semitic languages such as Arabic and Hebrew, and partly Chinese.

[Mapraputa Is]

Here is something interesting:

Panini should be thought of as the forerunner of the modern formal language theory used to specify computer languages. The Backus Normal Form was discovered independently by John Backus in 1959, but Panini's notation is equivalent in its power to that of Backus and has many similar properties. It is remarkable to think that concepts which are fundamental to today's theoretical computer science should have their origin with an Indian genius around 2500 years ago.
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Panini.html

[kayal cox]

And here is a totally different take on Sanskrit.
There are some points in the article, that I totally agree with

http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/brahman/bra000/snslgobs.html

[Frank Silbermann]

Originally posted by kayal cox:
And here is a totally different take on Sanskrit.
There are some points in the article, that I totally agree with

http://www.dalitstan.org/journal/brahman/bra000/snslgobs.html

I wonder what George Harrison's reaction to that article would have been. It sounds quite hostile to Hinduism, and its political assumptions are about eighty years out of date.