#51827: removed — 12/03  at  08:46 AM
A brilliant piece of satire! I also liked this cleaver response from a reader, no_sword23:

The fact remains that Grimmism's "language evolution" has never been demonstrated under scientific conditions. You can put a Chinese speaker, an English speaker, and a speaker of any Altaic* language you like together in the same room, but will they end up speaking Japanese? Hardly!

#51829: Arun — 12/03  at  09:42 AM
Hehe, is the "Aryan Invasion Theory" also an example of Wrathful Dispersionism?
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_invasion_theory )

#51831: — 12/03  at  10:14 AM
Well, you can USE OLD MOTOR OIL TO FERTILIZE YOUR LAWN.

Or so I´ve been told.

#51832: — 12/03  at  10:16 AM
Well, since Darwin made the analogy between the evolution of languages and the evolution of life, then it stands to reason that neither happened.

#51833: Alon Levy — 12/03  at  10:23 AM
I remember reading a post somewhere in which the poster complained that many Hindu fundamentalists invaded sci.lang and insisted that all theories of historical linguistics conform to Hindutva myths about Sanskrit. In the West it seems outlandish, but I think that it's only because Christianity has no holy language whereas Hinduism does.

#51836: — 12/03  at  11:00 AM
Hab SoSlI' Quch !

Qapla'!

#51848: — 12/03  at  12:22 PM
Christianity has no holy language whereas Hinduism does.

It almost did -- at one point, anyway. Popular theory amongst 19th-century Biblical scholars was that Koine Greek was a "divine" dialect, something that was peculiar to the New Testament. This was laid to rest when archaeologists began digging up grocery lists and bills of sale written in Koine.

Even stranger, today many hard-right types only accept the King James translation as the "real" Bible -- even in preference to the original Greek mss!

But if you want real heat, spend some time reading the arguments in Islam over whether Qur'an and its version of Arabic were "created" or not.

#51862: — 12/03  at  01:59 PM
Some years ago on 'As It Happens', a CBC radio newsmagazine program noted for the ability of its researchers to find nuts, they interviewed an opponent of bilingual education (English/Spanish) in the US who said of English "If it's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me."

#51867: No More Mr. Nice Guy! — 12/03  at  03:44 PM
Answer me this, you gawd-hating Grimmists - if English evolved from German, why do some people still speak German? Ha! Gotcha!

Trackback: Wrathful Dispersion Theory Tracked on: Buridan's Ass (66.235.212.128) at 2005 12 03 12:03:24
There's an exciting new scientific theory that puts to rest the controversy over the origins of language. You may have missed this one as it modestly veils itself within the new science curriculum spreading across this sacred nation of ours....

#51891: — 12/03  at  11:51 PM
"if English evolved from German, why do some people still speak German?"

Right on, No More Mr. Nice Guy! And -- WHY DO NO MONKEYS SPEAK ENGLISH OR GERMAN?

#52154: Arun — 12/05  at  01:49 PM
Why Sanskrit is important:

http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Panini.html