RE: [Leica] Even Worse Than Scotches: IE Linguistics

[Paul Chefurka <Paul_Chefurka@pmc-sierra.com>]

Whew!  That reminds me of a story...

This fellow who's spent all his life in Missouri or thereabouts takes a trip to Boston.  He's been told to be sure and try a particular kind of fish only available on the east coast.  So he climbs into a taxi at Logan Airport (keeping a tight grip on his M6TTL and 35 Summilux ASPH) and asks the laid-off schoolteacher who's driving, "Do you know where I can get scrod?"

To which the teacher replies, "You know, I've been asked that question a lot of times, but this is the first time I've heard it in the pluperfect subjunctive."

Paul

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Marc James Small [mailto:msmall@roanoke.infi.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 5:21 PM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: [Leica] Even Worse Than Scotches: IE Linguistics
> 
[snip]
> PIE had:
> 
> Nouns:
> 
> three numbers (singular, dual, plural)
> eight cases (nominative, vocative, genitive, dative, accusative,
> instrumental, locative, ablative)
> three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter)
> 
> Verbs:
> 
> three numbers (singular, dual, plural)
> two aspects (perfective, imperfective)
> four tenses (past, present, future, aorist)
> six moods (infinitive, verbal adjective, verbal noun, 
> indicative, optative,
> subjunctive)
> 
> It also had a pitch accent in place of the stress accent we 
> all know and love.

etc.