Gaius Octavius Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 (edited) It seems to me that there is an unfortunate use of personal affronts when threads get hot. In my opinion, this only leads to more heat and no light on the subject. Posters are discouraged and leave the thread. Many times posts are misread and this leads to going around in circles and the necessary affronts. To me, this reflects a lack of attention to posts; the absence of logic and a lack of facility with language. A little patience, keeping in mind that the poster's native language may not be English. When necessary, a little humor or sarcasm would suffice. Ice is also nice. What think all y'all? Edited August 28, 2006 by Gaius Octavius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Favonius Cornelius Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Sometimes in order to convey the true extent of belief or feeling in a thing requires an unforntnate amount of assertive language. And to that I say let god sort them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil25 Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 I agree entirely with the first post - though I often get carried away!! I'll try to do better. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Octavius Posted August 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Sometimes in order to convey the true extent of belief or feeling in a thing requires an unforntnate amount of assertive language. And to that I say let god sort them out. Assertive language, in my opinion, does not include personal affronts. The subject, not the person or his attributes, should be addressed. When the latter happens, the likes of me with my sarcasm comes into play with no successful outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docoflove1974 Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Don Tomato, you are totally and completely correct. Sometimes we all get carried away with silliness, and don't realize that there are many others who aren't in on the joke who are reading the posts! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spurius Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Write your posts as a good journalist would- Do not write to be understood, write so that you cannot be misunderstood. I too agree with the personal affronts, but as you pointed out there are no facial or body language clues about intent. Since we rely on these signs so much, it's easy to get "bent out of shape." So: :thumbs_up: :shutup: and keep the :boxing: to a level.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Octavius Posted August 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Just read a post with some rather unimaginative gutter talk and a complete mangulation of some language. 1. The use of a spell checker so that the reader need not call in the CIA to decipher the muck. 2. In the post profile, I suggest that the member's native language be made known. Thus if it is known that the writers native language is Manglish, a little pagan charity may be expended whilst deciphering the intelligence. 3. Welcome back, Doll. Hope that you have been a good girl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antiochus of Seleucia Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 That would be a great idea! It would be nice if we knew a person's native language so there will be less misunderstanding. Gaius, post some of your ideas in the support forum as suggestions, they may become reality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaius Octavius Posted August 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 I am sure that one of the TYRANTS is reading all of my posts. But didn't know that that place existed. Thanks. Next time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus Pilus Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 For the most part, people on this forum are quite tolerant and accepting regarding the occasional broken English of non native English speakers. If someone wishes to, they can put their place of origin right in their avatar profile (which is visible to the reader with every post). Occasionally, threads such as this do irritate me for the nonsensical approach and complete disregard for the reader's ability to comprehend (in addition to the inflammatory style). In that case I'll dismiss the poster as undesirable. However, there are many members of this forum who use English as a second, third, etc. language and they are most welcome. Generally speaking, I find that most who don't use the language as their native tongue are more concerned with being mistake free than those who use it naturally. I think most of the issues with misunderstanding around here have to do with (as Spurius alluded to) the inability to properly express emotions, tones, sarcasm, body language, etc. more than the misinterpretation of a few broken sentences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antiochus of Seleucia Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Occasionally, threads such as this do irritate me for the nonsensical approach and complete disregard Primus, you MUST admit, I so called that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docoflove1974 Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Just read a post with some rather unimaginative gutter talk and a complete mangulation of some language. 1. The use of a spell checker so that the reader need not call in the CIA to decipher the muck. 2. In the post profile, I suggest that the member's native language be made known. Thus if it is known that the writers native language is Manglish, a little pagan charity may be expended whilst deciphering the intelligence. 3. Welcome back, Doll. Hope that you have been a good girl. #2 is not a bad idea...although PP's mention of the 'location' information is a good start. But for example: AD is in France (I believe?), but I don't think his native language is French As for #3...I've never been a 'good' girl...at my worst, I'm a 'damn good' girl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kosmo Posted August 29, 2006 Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 Despite that I was part in some hot debates nobody here used my poor english as an argument against me or made a too agresive comment. People are nice around here and that it's hard to find on the net this days. Of course, we have arena and there sometimes the spirits can go high, but it's a risk that we take when go on the bloodspoted sand. It's more likely to get insulted in a thread about Bush then in one about the use of greek in roman Thracia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Dalby Posted August 29, 2006 Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 2. In the post profile, I suggest that the member's native language be made known. Thus if it is known that the writers native language is Manglish, a little pagan charity may be expended whilst deciphering the intelligence. #2 is not a bad idea...although PP's mention of the 'location' information is a good start. But for example: AD is in France (I believe?), but I don't think his native language is French How right you are, doc. It's not a bad idea, but I'm just slightly against it, because I think, having named some other language in that space, you might then feel slightly aware of being an outsider posting in an English language forum. But maybe others disagree with me there. Also, of course, people can have more than one native language (but I suppose the format could deal with that); and, as some posters on this site demonstrate, people can become fluent-as-a-native (or even more so!) in languages that they didn't learn from infancy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docoflove1974 Posted August 29, 2006 Report Share Posted August 29, 2006 It's not a bad idea, but I'm just slightly against it, because I think, having named some other language in that space, you might then feel slightly aware of being an outsider posting in an English language forum. But maybe others disagree with me there. Also, of course, people can have more than one native language (but I suppose the format could deal with that); and, as some posters on this site demonstrate, people can become fluent-as-a-native (or even more so!) in languages that they didn't learn from infancy. The more I think about it...I agree with you, Signore Dalby. I use discussion forums with my students all the time to get them to practice Spanish, and in many ways this forum is an extension of the same concept. Some people can become even more aware that they're not the (language) majority, and will clam up instead of engaging in the conversation. Perhaps the best route is to have tolerance of people's language, regardless of the grammatical state, and bear with it. And to have a sense of humor whenever possbile! (And has anyone else noticed that sarcasm, puns, and other lingual displays of humor are the last to master in a given language?!?! ARGH!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts