Surprise Joe (so there!)

[Talking about linguistics in sff.net . . . ]

Dave, I’ve never studied linguistics and stopped studying computer science in 1965, so have no opinion about any of the futuristic stuff you’re talking about. In that earth-shaking year, though, 1965, I did -- in the most literal sense of the cluster of words -- build a “working natural language processing system." It was a string-manipulation program that generated World War I Flying Ace stories. (Porn would have been easier, but the CS department didn’t have a highly evolved sense of humor.)

Leafing through a recent copy of Byte magazine, I was surprised to find that a simulator for the program I used for that project, Snobol, is still available. Checking Google, though, I find that most of the references are to Sno Bol, a toilet cleaning product. Sic transit Gloria Linguii . . . .

Speaking of languages, this morning I got the cutest reply from a Chinese fan. He wrote me yesterday and I answered him.

“ . . . am so happy to receive your letter. I showed your reply to my friends, they even don't believe this is a letter from the SF master. It's a great surprise. In my surrounding of my friends, we give you a cute name, Surprise Joe. Because in your books, there are so many great surprises in your stories.”

I ought to have that engraved on a brick and mail it collect to critics who say I’m predictable.


S. Joe