Well, there's the knows-lots-of-languages kind of linguist and then there's the knows-a-lot-about-linguistic-structure kind of linguist. I'm mostly talking about the latter, and their techniques get used a lot in computer science (not a field you can make your name in by waffling about class and gender), so I know there's something there.

Chomsky's actually a brilliant guy in his field. He's just completely nuts outside it.