🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <32ba72d5.856681@news.mindspring.com>, dgary@mindspring.com (D
Gary Grady) wrote, concerning the curious modesty which some textbooks
enforce upon the languages they introduce:

>but for some
>reason most authors insist on making a minute examination of a long
>series of trees and their subtle variations before saying, almost
>reluctantly, "Look, there behind us, that's a forest."

Oh, come now, sir!  Your lack of faith in a better future disappoints me!

I hardly expect "most" books to behave that way just because all *my*
language texts were like that!  What about the infinite perfectibility of
textbooks?

(What I really liked was the old Teach Yourself books I used to see about
15 years ago, that always introduced pronunciation and orthography in great
detail right away, tersely and informatively.  So even if you hadn't a clue
what the language was really like without reading the whole book, you could
persuade yourself that you could "read", i.e. sound out, the language right
from the start.  Alas, that was all I really felt I needed at 14, to this
day I know little more Irish, Welsh or Greek than that...and can no longer
find the danged books.)

Joe Bernstein
-- 
Joe Bernstein, writer, banker, bookseller joe@sfbooks.com
speaking for myself alone http://www.tezcat.com/~josephb/
But...co-proponent for soc.history.ancient, now back under
discussion in news.groups!