From: Albert Wagner <alwagner@...>
Date: 2002-09-08T01:44:14+09:00
Subject: Re: Larry Wall's comments on Ruby

On Friday 06 September 2002 05:47 pm, Matt Gushee wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 07, 2002 at 07:38:54AM +0900, Hal E. Fulton wrote:
> > "Language shapes the way we think and determines
> > what we can think about."
> >                   Benjamin Whorf
>
> Well, linguists these days don't think too much of *his* work. Much of
> it relied on generalizations about indigenous cultures that he never
> actually observed. Though his mentor, Sapir, whose conclusions were more
> moderate, is still respected.

Yet, I wonder how many of those who harshly judge his work were originally 
influenced most by him to become linguists.  I love people who can color 
outside the lines, and do it well.