Fame. Such as it is.

[james_davis_nicoll]

A quotation missing important context:

(A Reluctant Babel, by Maxim Edwards is) heavy on anecdotes and light on statistics (and given to silly remarks about "languages such as Abaza, Ingush or Kabardian, rightly called some of the most complex in the world," which "may simply be unteachable except for the most motivated and dedicated of students," not to mention the even sillier attribution of James Nicoll's famous statement that "English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary" to Booker T. Washington, of all people), [...]

Comments

[agent-mimi.livejournal.com]

I can't even imagine what must have happened for Edwards to think Washington came up with that quote. Washington's well-known quotes tend to be direct, without metaphor, and the topic of etymology isn't one he is known for. I'm genuinely offended by Edwards' error.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

For some reason, that's one of the most common fake attributions of James' quote. He probably just saw it on the Internet.

[agent-mimi.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Looks like Bing's iffy search engine strikes again; I found no attributions of it to Washington. Not that "a quick internet search" is proper research, mind you, but if it was already attributed and he just lazily copied it, then that seems less offensive to me.

More off-topicness: Someone please for the love of corn invent a search engine that can compete with Google.

[badger.livejournal.com]

On the Booker T Washington Society page of quotes by the man in question, possibly:

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Wow.

Here are some old discussions from 2001 and 2002; the attribution seems to have already existed by then:

http://linguistlist.org/issues/13/13-499.html
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=58846

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

I don't see it there...

[badger.livejournal.com]

Eighth from the bottom, just above the quote that begins "What we should do in all our schools..."

[james-nicoll.livejournal.com]

Oh, I was looking for "purity". Thank you. I've sent them email; let the hilarity begin.

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

On the other point, I don't see why Kabardian would be considered all that complex. Oh, picking it up wouldn't be a weekend project - but it doesn't have elaborate tonal requirements, exotic case structures, or any linguistically perverse qualities at all. This does indeed seem to be one of the silly remarks.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

my first thought was "dude. no way those are as hard as ojibwe."

[scott-sanford.livejournal.com]

My instant thought was Navajo, which is kind of the default go-to language for linguistic WTF moments. Having looked at (skimmed) Ojibwe...yeah. You're not kidding.

Fortis and lenis pairings? Okay, that would take getting used to. Proximate and obviative third person pronouns, no sweat; likewise animate/inanimate gender. Demonstrative pronouns, WTF? Hm, there's a buttload of prefixes. Should I use the dubitative case to discuss not understanding the dubitative case? (Why is "blue" a verb?) Hm, there's a buttload of suffixes. Diminutives, contemptives, perjoratives, and vocatives - WTF? And apparently syntax is more or less optional.

Yeesh. Sign me up for Kabardian.