Helen Chick
A mid-morning raid was launched on my office today by a bunch of linguists. They staked their claim on various tables and chairs, seized the left-over computers, plastered their posters and calendars on the walls, and started filling the empty shelves.
All the while they were casting longing eyes at my desk.
I will concede that their attempt to liberate the territory is well-founded, but the refugee camp for visiting academics is not yet ready and authorities have decreed that I should stay put.
So, for now, I have dug myself in, retreated into my seat, barricaded the desk with piles of papers and books, and am holding out against the siege.
Now you know how I feel on some Sunday nights!
You may have to brush up on your French accent, and trick these So-Called-Linguists, à la http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa0cz2V_VqU
Although, now I come to think of it, this seems to represent your plight more accurately:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1csr0dxalpI
(not sure what their tenor section is like, though!)
You could smile sweetly and say that your great-great uncle was Zoltan Caparthy and that you have been to both Hungary and Transylvania (two of these statements are true – SW Tasmania was once called Transylvania). You could grunt grotesquely and advise them that all future communications should be either in surds or be absurd. Or you could place one copy of the Book of Mormon on top of each of the desks they have occupied and four copies on your own desk, all in different translations. Or, and this is probably the best option, ignore them.
Zoltan Caparthy? That’s so obscure that the best that Google could do was to help me guess at what you might be getting at!