[Spellyans] " 'Breakthrough' rung"

[Eddie Climo]

On 21 Jul 2008, at 14:03, Craig Weatherhill wrote:
> . . . It does make one wonder why we continue to do what we do.

Hentry Jenner famously posed a similar question in 1904 in his Handbook:
> Why should Cornishmen learn Cornish ? There is no money in it, it  
> serves no practical purpose, and the literature is scanty and of no  
> great originality or value.
>
> The question is a fair one, the answer is simple.
>
> Because they are Cornishmen.

Despite its manifest flaws, the gist of his answer is still as valid  
today as it was a century ago -- so long as we make allowances for  
him ignoring (a) the female half of the human race, and (b) non- 
Cornish people who might wish to learn Cornish.

So, to paraphrase Jenner,
> Why should anyone learn Cornish? . . . Because they love the  
> language (or its literature, history, landscape, people . . .)

So, Craig, does that answer your question? Nicholas is English,  
Michael's an American, I'm a Cornish-Scots mongrel, Pat's of the  
female persuasion . . . There's Bretons, Welsh, Germans . . . Gar!  
there might even be the odd pure-blooded Cornish male on this list,  
for all I know. Yet, somehow, Jenner's answer probably resonates with  
each of us.

I know it does with me!

As for the pissants of the Kesva, try taking a longer view: their  
writings and their spurious orthography will die with them; like  
acne, they are an affliction of the Revival in its adolescence.

Only the best will be considered worth reading by generations yet  
unborn.

yn lel,

Eddie
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