Horizon

Well, place of composition is easy. It's gotta be Tlon, Uqbar, or Orbis Tertius, right?

You've got me, Martha. The only one I recognize is "Orbis Tertius", which I assume is the long form of the colony established in the later Heinleins.

All three names are in the title of a Borges short story about nonexistent countries that begin to exist, in a way, after descriptions of them are inserted in a series of encyclopedia editions. Seemed applicable.

Q, the hypothetical pre-synoptic gospel text upon which the authors of Matthew and Luke, but for some reason not Mark, are supposed to have drawn is another fun example of hypothetical texts.

Looking at the evidence lately, there certainly seems to have been at least one common text, now lost. It's hardly a stretch to suggest its existence, since almost everything not canonical and Christian from that time was lost.

My impression is that German historians became particularly adept at this kind of speculation because studies of the volk required the reconstruction of something for which there is virtually no evidence at all. Probably has a lot to do with their preeminence in historical linguistics, too.

Technically, Q is that material common to Matthew and Luke but not to Mark. It's entirely possible that all three were working from common source, and Q is merely that material the Marcan author didn't use — though the usual interpretation is that Q was pulled from an actual document (which is sometimes also called Q).

At any rate, this distinction is important, since any quantity of nonsense gets advanced via an argument from silence based on "what's not in Q".

Seemed applicable

Seems perfect! Sounds like a fun read -- can you point me to where to find it?

...can you point me to where to find it?

I recommend this volume.

At any rate, this distinction is important, since any quantity of nonsense gets advanced via an argument from silence based on "what's not in Q".

I guess I can see how that might be important if you are worried about such things. Though even if one assumes that Q is a single text it doesn't justify such arguments.

While writing a shopping list for a coworker today...

I guess I have to be the one to ask, Ben. Just what kind of a shopping list were you compiling?

Just what kind of a shopping list were you compiling?

She's travelling to Iceland this summer, and I'd like her to buy me some sagas.

Mr. Ben, you are one interesting person.

I'll say. Most guys would just ask for a t-shirt and a shot glass.

Most guys wouldn't get it, though.

This isn't my purpose in asking, but I have found in the past that asking for something really bizarre from a travelling friend tends to yield more than asking for tourist kitch. One friend bought me a pipe in Ireland, and had a good story to tell about his quest for it.

This isn't my purpose in asking, but I have found in the past that asking for something really bizarre from a travelling friend tends to yield more than asking for tourist kitch.

A few years ago I asked a (Chinese) friend returning to the PRC to fetch me a genuine Communist Party red star badge, of the kind worn on forage caps on Socialist Realist dioramas. Somewhat to my surprise she had to go to considerable lengths to accomplish this, begging one in the end from an aged Party member (I had assumed that these things were literally two-a-penny from any old market stall). I felt a little humbled. It's very nice though, and even comes in a paper packet covered in Chinese script which apparently gives instructions for proper wear and care.

What really happens is if you don't ask for anything, then you get the t-shirt and shot glass.

Yr Chinese story reminds me of a family vacation we took in Russia in 1985. I had been studying Russian in school and, as a favor to the school Russian Club, had bought a big selection of those Soviet lapel pins with red stars, pictures of Baby Lenin, etc. The Russian Club would sell these at bake sales to be worn with purely ironic intent. In these times I probably need to add that none of us who studied Russian in that school were actually pro-Soviet -- in fact most of us were studying the language because we felt very much otherwise. Some had personal connections to emigres or dissidents. My own reason had to do with wanting to join the U.S. Foreign Service. (I should also maybe explain that back then, if you wanted to work for the Foreign Service, you studied the language of the country where you wanted to serve and nobody thought worse of you for doing so.)

Anyhow at the end of our visit we left Russia by train and when we got to the Finnish border the guards did a very thorough search. We heard some Jordanians had their compartment as well as their luggage taken apart. So a Soviet border officer came to our compartment and we started taking down our bags from the rack to submit them for search. I had my things for the Russian Club in a big flat box. Forget how it happened but the box fell open and spewed dozens of Baby Lenin pins all over the floor. Officer pleased and impressed. End of search. Laughter on our part suppressed until arrival in Helsinki.

Great story.

Out of curiosity, who are your comments about learning Russian meant to benefit?

I took Russian in the summer of '89. Still have my book, which was decent as a textbook, but delightful in its misconceptions. The biggest one was its analysis of its readership -- the operating assumption being that American schoolchildren studied Russian around the age of 10. Outside of readings dealing with the Great Patriotic War, most of the book concerned itself with fairy tales.

Incidentally, Martha, how much do you remember? I can still conjugate verbs and might be able to decline a noun in the singular, but only remember half a dozen vocabulary words.

Worse, the verbs I remember don't match the nouns. Ya chitayu kowrovu just doesn't come in very handy.

Outside of readings dealing with the Great Patriotic War, most of the book concerned itself with fairy tales.

If Soviet-era historiography is anything to go by, make that "including the readings ..." (sorry).

My Russian isn't very good any more, which is a pity. A few years ago someone blew through abgo and posted a very good poem in Russian that I completely failed to translate properly. That was depressing.

To be clearer, A.H., my clarifications about studying Russian were just troll repellent, not addressed to anyone in particular.

not addressed to anyone in particular

The effect was sort of like "John F. Kennedy was not a homosexual."

Erm, by "effect" I meant "what's she reacting to?", not "obviously Martha is a Soviet sympathizer."

Sorry. Too many arguments with frothing anti-Soviet monomaniacs on Usenet.

Go back to Russia!