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Failed to connect to MySQL: (1203) User howardkn already has more than 'max_user_connections' active connectionsPath: ...!news.misty.com!2.eu.feeder.erje.net!feeder.erje.net!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Aidan Kehoe Newsgroups: sci.lang Subject: Re: Wry or self-deprecating quotes about linguistics Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2024 08:41:11 +0100 Lines: 18 Message-ID: <871q2lt0x4.fsf@parhasard.net> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net AEYwRRWl2nC3FeZwUNpULA6zPZSbmACU+kEz9iSVKewXWD2ORq Cancel-Lock: sha1:gQb1TZCm8fac4q75WWnrAPrqhhU= sha1:ujniHojgstmpN0G4batq+RQPOVU= sha256:H7YlRujOBdT92rAyn7bT4dwUn9QJDbcxtvJSJTExJOI= User-Agent: Gnus/5.101 (Gnus v5.10.10) XEmacs/21.5-b35 (Linux-aarch64) Bytes: 1731 Ar an t-ochtú lá déag de mí Lúnasa, scríobh Tristan Miller: > Samuel Johnson famously defined a lexicographer as "a harmless drudge". Have > any other lexicographers or linguists made similarly self-deprecating > statements about their profession? (I tried some web searches but came up > empty-handed; ChatGPT provided some real zingers from the likes of Ferdinand > de Saussure, Noam Chomsky, and David Crystal, alas all hallucinated.) Part of the difficulty with this is that Chomsky and e.g. Boas have and had egos the size of North America. I do think one needs a robust self-confidence to be good in the field, above and beyond what those around you would support, something which will not make people quick to self-deprecation. -- ‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out / How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’ (C. Moore)