Re: [Lingo] Conservatism (was: So happy I cried... )

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

David J Iannucci writes:

 > > > > Depends on who you ask.  If you ask a real linguist they'll say
 > > > > yes.
 > > >
 > > > I'm a real linguist and actually we don't care :-)
 > >
 > > That's what I mean by a real linguist will say they're all valid.
 > 
 > Well, ok, but in that case you could just as well have replaced
 > "linguist" with "bus driver" or "architect" :-)

No, because the real linguist knows why she doesn't care.  Those other
guys just plain don't care period. ;-)  I agree, in practice it
doesn't matter ... unless you're trying to explain kokugo to gaijin.
Which is what we're doing here.  Ain't we?

 > I could agree to a certain extent up till the 20th century or so
 > (maybe Kantou Daishinsai, 1923), but I find it hard to imagine that
 > anyone is making decisions like this in the post-WWII era.

Actually, my understanding is that that anti-invasion maze
consideration was explicit in the rebuilding of Tokyo after the war;
they were really worried (with good reason) about the Soviets, you
know.  (Not like the Russians who replaced the Soviets are so much
more reassuring, but at least they're a little less willing to
sacrifice consumption for arms.)

 > In that sense there's a conservatism at work, for sure (the sort
 > that is not at all unique to Japan).

Well, no, I don't think that Kobe was just an issue of familiarity.
That was an anticommons problem (aka "too many vetos spoil the
borscht").[1]  The inability to get anything resembling a public act
together while still managing to have a pretty darn comfortable and
equitable society is probably unique to modern-day Japan in all
history.  Unfortunately, that consensus is going to go to hell in a
handbasket.

 > As long as everything is moving along smoothly, everyone's happy.

You mean like the Shuto Expwy at 8:15am? :-)

 > This is fascinating, if it indeed reflects a conscious design.  How
 > old is the campus? (guess I could just look on Wikipedia... why
 > ever ask anyone a question ever again, eh :-)

Tsukuba-dai was planned in the late 1960s, opened in 1974.

Footnotes: 
[1]  Oh, Josh, do I owe you another monitor?  Sorry! ... not.