scott <sco### [at] laptopcom> wrote:
> OK I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and explain to you that in 
> English it is considered rude to give the *impression* of pretending 
> ignorance to undermine someone elses work.  Even if you really are ignorant, 
> don't write something that others may take as you pretending to be 
> ignorant - because you'll be labelled as rude and offensive.  If you are a 
> clever person, you need to be even more aware of this, as people will often 
> think you are pretending not to understand if you say so.

> In this case Andrew clearly stated exactly what he had done and posted his 
> results.  People who read this ng regularly will have guessed that you 
> probably understood exactly what Andrew had done, yet you seemingly 
> pretended you "didn't get it" and asked "what else is there that i didn't 
> get".  That's rude, when there obviously isn't any more to it.

> Another example, if you are seeing someone give a bad presentation, you 
> don't then ask at the end "please send me the final version when you've 
> finished it".  Or at a dinner party, you don't say after a small main course 
> "great starter, what's the main?".  I'm sure you can think of more examples, 
> maybe it's acceptable in Finnish?

  You just made an excellent essay on the first rule of the internet:
If something can be interpreted more than one way, someone will interpret
it in the worst possible way.

  Basically the rationale is: "He wrote something which I feel can be
considered rude, ergo he was being deliberately rude, ergo I should
get angry with him for being deliberately rude."

  This alternative rationale is completely out of question: "He wrote
something which could be interpreted as rude, but maybe he didn't mean it
that way."

  While both interpretations are possible, the principle of maximization
of indignation requires for the worst possible interpretation to be chosen.

  Whatever.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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