Word: perfective
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...part of five years perusing library card catalogs and attending colorful conferences to learn about languages created by one person and, in some cases, adopted by thousands. Her new book, In the Land of Invented Languages, chronicles the scientists, idealists and eccentrics who tried - and failed - to create the perfect parlance from scratch. TIME spoke with Okrent about defending the cranks from the critics, ordering sandwiches in Esperanto and the art of speaking chipmunk. (See the 10 best Star Trek moments...
...does it need irregular verbs? Why can't it be more logical? Why do we need synonyms and all these exceptions that just confuse people who are trying to learn another language? I know! I could sit down and try to make it perfect! And that sort of presupposes that you know how language works. Language really isn't about information transmission. You speak a language in order to join the group that speaks that language...
...Will Bianchi back up his big talk? Well, a sedation movement would make some sense, given all the stresses surrounding us. "In this time of great anxiety, anything that allows you to be calm has tremendous benefit attached to it," says Pirko. "The timing might be perfect on this." So kick back, relax and crack open a purple can. Just Drank at your own risk...
...qualities these stories celebrate are telling. Competence--as manifested in a pilot with a perfect feel for his machine. Sacrifice--in a captain who would trade himself for the sake of his crew. Persistence--in the singer who knew from adolescence that this was what she wanted and would allow no humiliation to deter her. These are, not by accident, the qualities Barack Obama, national life coach, regularly exalts. He commends the public for its patience, which convinces me that he has read the parenting books that instruct us to pre-emptively praise our children for the qualities we want...
...entirely coincidental that Wal-Mart was started in 1962 and McDonald's began in 1955. Millions of relatively young people, most of them parents, were only a decade removed from serving their country and not being paid a great deal for that service. It was a perfect environment for consumers to believe that something could be inexpensive and a good value at the same time...