i wonder: am i the immovable object, or the irresistible force?

today, robin said "the most futile thing a linguist can ever do is to try to create a taxonomy of clearly delimited categories."

i read this in a book on ojibwe grammar:
"...one realizes acutely the truth of Michael Krauss's statement that a hundred linguists working for a hundred years could never get to the bottom of a single language."

and yet, we persist.

oh, also. in this week's installment of how-to-drive-me-crazy:
"Amy, this is a very strong assignment--close to excellent."