Well--I am sorry, now, that I haven't been able to get to this category for so long; I thought I might have time to catch up on all 155 new posts this morning, but this thread was first up, and I'm going to have to stop here and just hope I can remember how many others to get to next time.

I have read this thread twice, and am still unable to pinpoint the exact spot where it started to get ugly; but I am nonetheless filled with dismay. Disagreeing/asking for clarification is one thing. Disagreeing/asking for clarification while making snide remarks or personal attacks is quite another, and extremely unwelcome, to say nothing of disruptive.

Questioning someone or their thoughts while attacking them at the same time is a near-guarantee that they will not respond to the question but to the attack. If this has been done on purpose, then I say: attackees, be warned! Realize that you may be being deliberately lured away from presenting your thoughts on the subject, and feel free to ignore the attack, or at least not to give it star billing.

For what it's worth: saying something like, " N (author) bores me", or " N (author)'s ideas are ridiculous" is NOT necessarily the same as saying, "You're stupid if you like N".

This thread opened with a perfectly valid and wonderful question, one that virtually demands different viewpoints and lovely, lively discussion! Can we go back to the loveliness, PLEASE? If anyone has a "beef" with a particular person, would you please let them know via a PM, and not drag the entire readership into your vendetta? Despite some personal past unhappiness, I still care about this place.
*********************************************************

I hadn't even thought of ASL, re: what constitutes a word. I wish Brandon would respond to that. As to how the nuance behind the word audacious is gotten across, I wonder if the signer's facial expressions add to it?

As to which came first, ideas or words, I would have to say ideas. Think back to the earliest humans: it makes sense to me that they would have had to first be aware of what their needs were ("food", "danger!") and then found ways to communicate these to others--possibly hand signals or drawings, first, but there surely would have been times when these were impossible, so spoken words developed.

I was interested to read, in the context of this thread, the phrase "make the law spring off the page": I took it that the writer was meaning that the concept, or understanding, became clear in the minds of the students, not that the words of the law literally rose from the page into the air! Amazing things, words...