Our many avid readers have no doubt noticed that several months have elapsed since the last appearance of the Journal of the Worldwide Linguistic Society. The reason for this is that we have encountered all sorts of problems around here, all of which can be attributed to the incompetence and willful malfeasance of former editor Tim Pulju. To begin with, he chose the name Babel for our publication without checking to see whether he was stealing any preexisting journal’s appellation. He was. Further, as will become obvious to those readers who read the letters page in the current number, he apparently wrote a number of previous letters to the editor himself and falsely attributed them to other people. Moreover, as an editor he was an abysmal failure: he promised that the journal would come out on a monthly basis, yet he was unable to produce the third issue as scheduled; he did not submit any articles to a board of expert referees, with the result that some inferior scholarship tainted our pages; he sanctioned the publication of too many long, boring articles; and his proofreading was a joke. We could continue with this litany of sins for several pages, but why bother? Suffice it to say that in June of this year, Tim Pulju was sacked.

Unfortunately, on hearing the news, the scoundrel decided to abscond with all our funds, to which he had access as an officer of the WLS, the result being that he is now a fugitive from justice, last seen on a Caribbean resort island, while the WLS is bankrupt. Add to our bankruptcy the fact that we are being sued by a number of litigants for misdeeds of Pulju for which we, as publishers, are legally responsible, and you will understand that this is destined to be the last issue of Babel. Indeed, the WLS itself will soon be dissolved. Hopefully, it will be replaced by a successor organization, and a new journal will be produced under more reputable editorship. The articles in this last issue represent the finest submissions remaining in our files. We wish to emphasize that no blame in any of our misfortunes attaches to the members of the Board of Editors of Babel, all of whom are exemplary scholars and wonderful human beings. We hope that they will join us in the future in founding a successor organization, if there is to be a successor. Meanwhile, keep the faith, and enjoy this last issue of Babel.

(Note: due to shortage of funds, we we unable to use the usual expensive heavy bond paper for the front and back covers of this issue. We are sure you will understand.)

[SpecGram editor’s note: While we have attempted to reproduce the covers of Babel online as faithfully as possible, mere color selections cannot convey the sad patheticness of the plain paper cover of the last issue of Babel.

Though Babel is obviously no longer accepting submissions, submissions which would have been appropriate for Babel are also appropriate for Speculative Grammarian, and are welcome. See our submissions page for more details.]

	Look What The Postman Dragged In—Letters to the Editor
	Babel Vol I, No 3 Contents