On Wed, Jul 28, 2010 at 7:20 PM, Murray Sargent < murr...@exchange.microsoft.com> wrote: Andreas Prilop commented "A native speaker of English does not /automatically/ know better about English grammar, English punctuation than an informed Frenchman." So true, so true. Most native speakers of English have only limited understanding of English grammar.
I very recently read an anecdote about Radloff, the russian turkologist. One day a Turk visited him and told him his theories and ideas about the Turkic languages. It became quite soon apparent, that he was not to be taken seriously. So Radloff asked: — Why do you think, your ideas are right? — Because I'm a turkologist — the man replied. — And what makes you a turkologist? — Well, I'm a Turk, and my mother tongue ist Turkish. — Oh no, my friend, a bird is not an ornithologist either... ... Actually, in general birds know pretty little about birds :-) Szabolcs