I am a mere lurker most of the time, but I always dislike intensely when 
one gang decides to insist on an epistemological sieve for all the 
rest.  I don't think that the human mind per se or human knowledge in 
general is handicapped by serious compartmentalization, is it?  Why 
would we want to handicap these phenomena in that manner artificially? I 
appreciated the missive about the self-serving senators very much.  I 
even liked the quip about the analogy between sex and understanding. 
<g>  After all, I live IN this world, not merely in a grammar world.  
Somehow I'm thinking of Browning's "A Grammarian's Funeral" at the 
thought of being "IN this world" . . . don't know why. 

Purely practically speaking, I'd say it probably wastes less time and 
bandwidth to tolerate the occasional off-topic epistle than to sputter 
on about some demarcation of orthodox subject-matter.  There is always 
the DELete key.

==Reinhold

Robert Einarsson wrote:
> 
> I feel the same.  This listserv should be used for our grammar
> discussions only.
> 
> It's bad enough that everyone is forced to see my opinions on
> grammar, let alone politics.
> 
> > As much as I appreciate the message on Social Security, I would prefer
> > that the content of this list be reserved for issues directly related to
> > grammar instruction. I don't know about you, but I already get way too
> > much mail to handle. I really intend no offense to Ruth -- I know she
> > posted this in the spirit of good citizenship.
> >
> > Anybody feel the same?
> >
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > Johanna Rubba   Assistant Professor, Linguistics
> > English Department, California Polytechnic State University
> > One Grand Avenue  . San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
> > Tel. (805)-756-2184  .  Fax: (805)-756-6374 . Dept. Phone.  756-259
> > . E-mail: [log in to unmask] .  Home page: http://www.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
> >                                      **
> > "Understanding is a lot like sex; it's got a practical purpose,
> > but that's not why people do it normally"  -            Frank  Oppenheimer
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
>