[1088] in tlhIngan-Hol
Re: HoS voDleH jIH
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Mon Jun 28 12:04:14 1993
Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: Randy Kloko <rkk@mail.lib.duke.edu>
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 93 08:58:22 EST
1. Why should it be any easier to carve from right to left?
The longest Greek inscription in stone is in boustrophedon,
which would seem to indicate that it was a toss-up.
2. If it's so much easier write with ink from left to right,
how is it that the most intricate caligraphy in an
alphabetic script is in Arabic, written from right to left.
3. "Intense confusion"? Boustrophedon may have been a
transitional phase, but the fact that the word means "as
the ox plows" pretty much shows they knew what they were
doing. Mario Pei wondered why the system, "so restful to
the eye", was abandoned. Evidently, he thought it was a
superior way of writing.
It just makes me thankful for tlhIngan-Hol and its gonzo,
ASCII-bound transcription system. But is 'transcription'
the right word to use when one transcribes a fictional
langauge from non-existant glyphs?
Kloko.
