[AdamM]

What in God's name are you blathering about?

[Spann]

This entire thread has become completely nonsensical.

This post has been edited by Spann: 02 September 2008 - 01:56 AM

[FFreak3]

Isn't this thread about hazing the newbie?
Hey Kazuma, you can come back in now, we're done poking fun at you, we're honestly not that elitest.

Why, I'm the perfect gentleman here. I have no idea what sort of insinuation you were making about my character personally with this generalization, but I'll have you know I'm deeply, deeply offended, sir.

Actually, I would like to point you back to my first days on the forums.

[Patch]

Why, I'm the perfect gentleman here. I have no idea what sort of insinuation you were making about my character personally with this generalization, but I'll have you know I'm deeply, deeply offended, sir.

I was talking about that, Adam. You don't exactly hear people refer to themselves as 'gentlemen' and use words like 'insinuation'. The last time I heard 'insinuating' was in a Monty Python sketch. It's just the paragraph gives off vibe of a fading upper class british stereotype.
Unless you were continuing the joke with 'blathering', in which case, my bad.

[AdamM]

What makes you think only upper class British people use such language? Josh is a Yank, and although he was being disingenuous in the above post I hardly think he uses the word 'insinuation' exclusively when taking the piss.

In fact, drawing attention to the fact that the last time you heard a not uncommon formal English word was in a 1960s sketch show only highlights the types of media you must consume and company you must keep.

This post has been edited by AdamM: 03 September 2008 - 08:54 AM

[joshofalltrades]

Thanks for clarifying that so I didn't have to, Adam.

On topic, who cares when somebody became a fan of Yahtzee? The only person I could possibly expect to impress by drawing attention to the date I stumbled upon a bunch of free games in the vast ocean of the internet would be myself. Frankly, even I don't find the length of time I've been keeping up with FullyRamblomatic impressive, so how could anybody else?

[Patch]

What makes you think only upper class British people use such language? Josh is a Yank, and although he was being disingenuous in the above post I hardly think he uses the word 'insinuation' exclusively when taking the piss.

In fact, drawing attention to the fact that the last time you heard a not uncommon formal English word was in a 1960s sketch show only highlights the types of media you must consume and company you must keep.

Okay, let's take it from the top. I made the assumption that only British people use the word 'insinuation' because I watch 1960s sketch shows, which does show what media I watch. Is it a negative thing? It's Monty Python for crying out loud. I'm sorry, I fully admit to watching Monty Python, and I feel very guilty for it.

No, don't take that bait.

For the sake of the argument, the other Australian media available to me is Australian public television. Five channels of recycled American reality TV shows, recycled American TV shows, second rate soaps and the occasional British stuff, which is usually humour anyway. I don't watch much television because of this, so I'm not exposed to the word 'insinuation' very much.

Now, the comment about the company I keep. No, my friends don't use the word 'insinuation' very often because it never seems appropriate to use it. Here's a question that I genuinely would like answered; What does me watching Monty Python say about my friends?

You are overreacting. You were snapping at an attempted joke and now you're insulting myself and my friends when I tried to explain myself civilly, which resulted in this equally rude reply.

So yes, for the sake of this, I made a bad joke and the assumption that the word 'insinuation' was not commonly used outside of a stereotype. Did I warrant your reaction?

[joshofalltrades]

Easy there, tiger. Adam was actually being pretty polite here, with the exception of the very last bit. Instead of baiting him into an enraged reply, prompting a giant flame war, you'd do better to graciously accept the fact that you misunderstood and refuse to let it bother you so much.

Even when people are being rude to you, I've found it better to calmly and politely type my reply (if I deign to even respond). That way, even if they are right, you look like a lot less of a twatberry and might even make them look silly for getting so worked up in the process.

The Golden Rule applies everywhere, even the Internet.

[Patch]

Trust me, I rewrote it a few times trying to find a way not to come off as an asshole. I even tried to point out I was baiting him so people would understand I'm not at all innocent, not that they'd think that.

What is the Golden Rule?

[joshofalltrades]

Treat others the way you want to be treated.

[FFreak3]

pfh. The golden rule only works for first order communications.

It is possible to treat everyone nicely, but to treat some people in certain ways, such that they react negatively to the next person to come along, or, if you're clever about it, to a particular person.

It is therefore possible to do this by accident.

Furthermore, even within first order communications, it may be impossible to achieve, or self-contradictory.
Let's say I want people to respect a particular skill I have, and no one else around has it. and I want them to respect it because the skill itself deserves respect, not me because I have the skill, but the skill itself. If no one around has that skill, how can I do unto others as I want them to do unto me?
Furthermore, what if a lesser form or mockery of the skill deserves no respect . . . do I show respect for it because I want the real skill to be respected, or do I diss the guy because he doesn't understand the skill, and I don't want people to needlessly respect something which deserves no respect?

If it helps, imagine fencing as the skill in the example above, and the second person is merely waving around a Gladius like a fool.

[joshofalltrades]

How about offering to help the person improve? Maybe they'll see your offer of help as looking down on them, but if you're genuine then it shouldn't matter. Besides, just because you're an awesome fencer doesn't mean you're awesome at everything. Maybe that guy flailing his sword like a feather-duster is great at something you suck at (in fact, you can count on it).

You'll have a difficult time convincing me that being a twerp is a good idea in any situation. Even if you don't believe in any higher power, it's still a bad idea to be an unlikable twit. Social pressures basically force you to be nice to at least a small percentage of people unless you're a hermit. Otherwise, you have few (if any) friends and even the most introverted, misanthropic person needs other people occasionally. Try being an ass to your professor at college, or to your boss. Try being nasty to every single person you meet and we'll see how far you get in life.

I'm not saying that all jerk-offs will get their comeuppance every single time, but I prefer to put my money on the safer bet of being affable and friendly, even to my enemies.

[David-kyo]

I'm not saying that all jerk-offs will get their comeuppance every single time, but I prefer to put my money on the safer bet of being affable and friendly, even to my enemies.

Bah, sod that. There's no need to change the world by being ever so polite all the time, especially when the person you're trying to criticise is an egotistical twat.

[joshofalltrades]

In that scenario, I'll be nice because it makes them look like an even bigger loser. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying to be stupid and buddy-buddy like an airhead, I'm just saying there's something very satisfying about being defiantly calm and reasonable while somebody is losing their temper. They tend to look like bigger and bigger morons and other people tend to be more sympathetic to you.

Does that make a bit more sense?

[gabrielk4]

Just listen to Josh.
He's right.