Pivotal Moments in the History of Linguistics—John Miaou and Kean Kaufmann SpecGram Vol CLVI, No 3 Contents A very short comparison between UH and UG—Johannes Damascenus nach Campenhausen

The Contest of the Longish Now

In the February 1959 issue of SpecGram, the following contest announcement was published:

Fellow Linguisticians, turn your sharp minds and razor wit to study the language of the Study of Language. Send us your best and brightest ideas for self-referential Philological word play. Three token prizes will be awarded for the cleverest entries, determined by our Editorial Board: 50¢ for first place, 25¢ for second place, and 15¢ for third place (minus postage costs). Entries are due March 1st, 2009.

The original plan did not call for a 50-year pause between the announcement of the contest and the awarding of prizes. As best as we can reconstruct from our editorial archives, contests of the time included not only a date by which entries should arrive, but also a time (GMT). The purpose was, honestly, to prevent a certain puzzler, whose name we are still legally barred from revealing, from claiming the right to submit puzzles as late as 11:59PM in her local time zone, to be transported by slow banana boat, camel caravan, or carrier pigeon, as she see fit. The correct due date and time should have been “March 1st, 20:09”.

The error was not caught until the issue had gone to press, and was allowed to stand. Only two submissions were received, one in 1986 and the other in 2003. Both were submitted by Simon Spero, and both have been deemed prize-worthy:
*Linguists is judgmental bastards

Preposition /prɛpə'zɪʃ(ə)n/ noun. Something to annoy prescriptivists with.

Mr Spero also included the following interesting comment with his second submission:

Did you know that the Pullumite tribes of Northern Britain have over four hundred different words for describing Noam Chomsky, none of them printable?
Indeed, Mr Spero, we were aware of that fact, but thank you for pointing it out to our readers.

The SpecGram accountants have sent Mr Spero a registered letter informing him of his winnings. As sending the letter incurred a cost of $2.14, Mr Spero, by the rules of the contest, to which he agreed, now owes the Editorial Board a sum of $1.37.

Pivotal Moments in the History of Linguistics—John Miaou and Kean Kaufmann
A very short comparison between UH and UG—Johannes Damascenus nach Campenhausen
SpecGram Vol CLVI, No 3 Contents