--- Geoffrey King <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I hope it's not too late (I'm catching up!) to
> comment on Steve Rice:
> <In that struggle, I see no way that Ido can
> win,though it may influence 
> the form of future Esperanto >
> 
> Well, if Ido hasn't already influenced Esperanto
> then there have been 
> some mighty coincidences. All sorts of things have
> come into Esp since 
> the appearance of Ido, which, by coincidence or
> otherwise, also exist in 
> Ido. Most of this is vocabulary of course, but there
> is also the suffix 
> -end (which has even been made official) and
> increasingly frequent use 
> of the suffix -esk.

I'm aware of past influences; I just meant that there
may be further shifts. I once justified my work in 
helping with an Ido course by observing that Ido acts
as a testing ground for Eo: Idists are far more
interested in experimenting, so let them discover any
hidden bombs and use whatever seems truly worthwhile.
 
> There are quite a few features of Ido, mostly in the
> suffix department, 
> that I would like to see in Esperanto. Particularly
> -ifar and the 
> passive particle -esar. These would make several
> things simpler in Esp

I don't see the point of either one myself. The
passive form in Ido is handy in some respects, just as
the perfect is, but in general it's a needless
complication. A more streamlined passive would tempt
people to use it more often, which wouldn't be a good
thing IMO.
 
> Of course, this could only happen by someone
> starting to use them, and 
> waiting to see if they caught on, which is how all
> development of 
> Esperanto up to now has happened; and when you make
> _additions_ (rather 
> than changes) to the language there is no risk of
> things being 
> "kontrauFundamentaj"
> 
This is a point that has been raised in vain several
times: change in Eo, as in English, is by usage, not
by fiat. Also, Dr. Z's gripe about innovation really
was a concern for backward compatibility: it's much
easier for an Eist to read la Unua Libro than for an
Idist to read early Ido.

Steve


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