[Membroj] Gulliver's Travels & the universal language

[Ralph Dumain]

A blast from my past:

<http://www.autodidactproject.org/other/gulliver1.html>Gulliver's 
Travels<http://www.autodidactproject.org/other/gulliver1.html>. Part 
III. A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, and 
Japan. Chapter V (extract) by Jonathan Swift

. . . which was taken from the online text at Project 
Gutenberg.  This is Swift's satire on the Royal Academy, 
philosophical languages, ars combinatoria, and the prevailing 
intellectual occupations of the age.

There's a personal anecdote behind this. I was interested in 
artificial languages as a hobby while a freshman in high school many 
decades ago. My bug-eyed, pockmarked English teacher taught 
Gulliver's Travels in class. Like Pavlovian dogs we were taught to 
interpret everything in Swift's novel as a manifestation of false 
pride.  This didn't interest me so much, but I perked up when I read 
Gulliver's sojourn in Laputa. I recognized the objects of Swift's 
satire and was eager to show off my knowledge, commenting on this 
extract in particular. But as my English teacher had no knowledge of 
these matters, and no interest in science--so typical of humanities 
teachers of the time, in my experience--she had no interest in what I 
had to say.  But sure enough, a fellow schoolmate since early 
childhood shouted out:"False pride!"
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