Updates to Glossary

[Sir C. M. Siervicül]

I have added the following entries to the Glossary - starship.python.net/crew/manus/talossa/?lingo=&page=Glossary :

Berber Hypothesis
Derivatism
Enver Hoxha International Airport
Hopper
Living Cosâ
Peculiarism
TalossaFest
Talossan Sea
l'Urderi del Glhimbâ Pürpül

Also, does anyone know the source for the "Pic Mac'ht" entry? I can't find a reference for any point in Wisconsin about 2,000 feet.

[Ups Antônio Martüc]

Better update the glossary on the ZPT

[Danihel Laurieir]

Aw. You've decided to use Ben's colorful but tendentious definition of Peculiarism instead of one offered by the old-school Peculiarists themselves.

How about:

Peculiarism: Talossan political philosophy, originally espoused by Danihél Lauriéir, which holds that Talossa should not necessarily seek or feel constrained to imitate the forms and institutions of other real nation-states, but instead should feel at liberty to create Talossan forms and institutions of community that may not conform to the "what real countries do" paradigm. Contrast with derivatism.

God, that's boring. On second thought, you might as well keep Ben's not-quite-right but more-fun-to-read definition.

For the record, I no longer call myself a Peculiarist. Ben—and others—were right, I have thought for some time now, to insist that the fun of Talossa is inseparable from playing "nation-state." But I still find it frustrating that some people profess to find the very idea of peculiarism incomprehensible. It is a very general idea, and probably not particularly fruitful—that's true. But the idea is clear and simple: allow yourself to imagine Talossa as a nation or a community without parallel; don't get stuck just imitating what other countries do.

For those interested, here, thanks to M. Schiva's post on the other Wittenberg, is an excerpt from "The Peculiar Manifesto" penned by me (the Kingdom's first and only Peculiarist) as reprinted in Ben's history:

(Begin excerpt)
"Derviatists hold a largely inarticulated mindset that cannot imagine Talossa without the trappings of real countries. Not only do derivatists want Talossa to have territory, a military, a self-reproducing and expanding population, they also want an efficient government and a takes its country seriously. Derivatists often dismiss ideas like the transcendence of territory [i.e. "non-territoriality,", the rejection of the idea that the R[egipäts ]T[alossán] occupies physical space] or the representation of finicky or indecisive voters by empty seats in the Cosâ [lower house of the Kingdom legislature] by calling such ideas "unrealistic", "unworkable" or by arguing that "nobody else does it that way". In truth, all the derivatists are doing when they reject such ideas is admitting their reliance on clichéd ideas as to what constitutes nationality, and thus they are also revealing their failure to see the inherent possibilities in a venture like Talossa. [...]

Peculiars... take Talossa with a grain of salt. They want Talossa to be a reflection of their own inventiveness. They are not interested in mimicking other countries. Peculiars want Talossan institutions to be Talossan - not practical, efficient, effective according to real world standards, but purely and simply up to our own idiosyncratic standards... The time has come for us Peculiars to again insist that Talossa more fully realize its idiosyncracy. The question is: Shall Talossa be just another nation, or shall Talossa be Talossa?[...]

[King Robert] says "We are a country, or at least we want to be, or want to pretend to be." To this Derivatists shout: "Bravo! Exactly so!" But Peculiars blush a little and say: "Well, sort of..." The reason that the Peculiar response is less emphatic than the Derivatists' is that Peculiars, while accepting the pretence of nationality as a guiding illusion are not wedded to the notion that Talossan nationality has to resemble anything in heaven or earth. We peculiars have no drive to simulate, no drive to create along well-worn paths. We're not exactly sure of what Talossa is. This idea of the ambiguity of Talossan identity is central to "peculiarism".
(End excerpt.)

[Danihel Laurieir]

Oh yes, and about another term in the glossary...

Robert II may have announced his abdication, but his reign as King was ended before that announcement by a legislative act of the PUNK government—at least that's my recollection. The point is: he didn't stop being King because he abdicated; he stopped being King because the democratically elected government legislatively decapitated him.