G'day Wordcrafters,
I have learned a great deal about English and Australian by trying to assist some English learners to translate some phrases into English.
I am virtually totally monolingual but I help by tweaking the translations and in doing so I have polished a little highschool French and picked up a tiny smattering of Spanish.
The point of most interest to me is the way that some highly intelligent non native speakers examine English and it is sometimes a hoot to help them.

I suspect that I can ask half a dozen or so extremely interesting non native English speakers to come here if there are a few people who are interested in giving them a hand to learn a bit of English usage.
Most English learners seem to seek idiomatic or daily usage rather than just dictionary definitions.

.,,

Question:
Would you like to help some English learners to polish their English usage and idiomatic skills?

Choices:
Yes.
No.

 

I think it sounds like a good idea; at any rate, we could at least try it. Bob also teaches ESL students, and wouldn't it be fun to have some interplay between students?

We have had non-native English speakers previously, some of whom have contributed a great deal of value.

Sure. It's my job. And I'm good at it.

I guess I have my answer.
Thirty views and only three votes for yes.
They have a bit of difficulty with English but not with counting.

.,,

You might try one of the following forums:

English Forums

WordReference Forums

[Fixed typo.]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
You might try one of the following forums:

English Forums

WordRefernce Forums

This is a joke?
You can't be serious.
Do you fair dinkum reckon that I would be allowed to post in either of those places?
Are you just winding me up?
This is hazing of a newbie. It must be.
I have not yet insulted you so you simply must be joking.

.,,

Do you fair dinkum reckon that I would be allowed to post in either of those places?
Are you just winding me up?
This is hazing of a newbie. It must be.

I'm glad I didn't suggest ttt.

quote:

I'm glad I didn't suggest ttt.

" Sed nimis multi sunt qui putent se omnia scire "

" Sed nimis multi sunt qui putent se omnia scire "

Creo que sí. Γνωθι σεαυτον.

Me parece que tienes razón.

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
" Sed nimis multi sunt qui putent se omnia scire "

Creo que sí. Γνωθι σεαυτον.

Si tienes algo que decir, dilo, y punto pelota.

Si tienes algo que decir, dilo, y punto pelota.

Aw, shucks. I was just trying to play along with you two. I guess humor is a culturally context sensitive thing.

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
Si tienes algo que decir, dilo, y punto pelota.

Aw, shucks. I was just trying to play along with you two. I guess humor is a culturally context sensitive thing.

If you call a snide comment humour, yes, it is.

a snide comment

Oh, I see. And what you two have been doing is deadly serious and on the up and up? I don't think so. Geese and ganders, so to speak. I was so entranced by Occam's Revenge that I googled a phrase out of its middle and lo and behold a couple of forums popped up.

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
a snide comment

Oh, I see. And what you two have been doing is deadly serious and on the up and up? I don't think so. Geese and ganders, so to speak. I was so entranced by Occam's Revenge that I googled a phrase out of its middle and lo and behold a couple of forums popped up.

Why did you google my poem?
What did you expect to find?
I already stand with an insinuation that I plagiarised Joyce that has not been clarified despite my request.

Does anybody here accept that there is creative writing possible and that not all writers write for bloody money.

I am a talented god damned writer and I do not need to steal other's ideas.
I don't want to find someone else's voice to cover my own.
My voice is quite interesting enough for quite enough people.

I guess that you may have figured out that I am not welcome at any of the three places you mentioned.

ttt got the shits because I would not accept a slap on the wrist for calling my wife of 20 years a wog.

EnglishForum banned me because I didn't like their coded messages being passed between people who seemed to be discussing very strange activities with children.

Word Reference banned me for sending a Voodoo Death Curse by PM to an arsehole who was irritating me.

The last joint that banned me was UsingEnglish but I didn't get to post for very long before an incisive mod jumped on me for posting 'hide nor hare' rather than the accepted 'hide nor hair'.
I do not join forums to allow superior feeling people to feel even more superior.

So thanks for your interest but I am still fascinated as to what you hoped to achieve by checking on my poem.

.,,

This message has been edited. Last edited by: .,,,

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
You might try one of the following forums:

English Forums

WordRefernce Forums

Now that you have confirmed that you googled me and specifically chose these forums knowing that I have been banned from those forums what part of snide am I not to understand from your suggestion that I try the forums that I have been banned at?
Are you enjoying your little joke at my expense?
What have I done to show you any disrespect at all?

You can have no knowledge of the reasons and ramifications of my banning from those forums and you have needlesly ripped a scab of an only partially healed wound?
How the hell am I supposed to take your comment as anything other than, at best, snide and at worst just plain bloody mean?

Robert Maurice Bennie

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
a snide comment

Oh, I see. And what you two have been doing is deadly serious and on the up and up? I don't think so. Geese and ganders, so to speak. I was so entranced by Occam's Revenge that I googled a phrase out of its middle and lo and behold a couple of forums popped up.

Yes, snide.
For your information I have not been banned from any of the forums you mention.
My name and my avatar are the same in every forum I write.
You could have chosen a better and more polite way of letting us know you recognized both of us.
I am free to go were I like and do what I like,
and so is .,,

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Alexa Cohen,

quote:

I plagiarised Joyce

How ridiculous. The words have a Joycean feel. No more.

To .,,

Now that you have confirmed that you googled me and specifically chose these forums knowing that I have been banned from those forums what part of snide am I not to understand from your suggestion that I try the forums that I have been banned at?

Who mentioned banning? You did. I mentioned the first two forums because I sometimes go to them and I thought them more appropriate to the content of the question in your poll. It was only later, after posting, that I googled the line from your poem and found that you were on one of the sites which I suggested. I found it strange that you wouldn't be over there helping non-native speakers with their English, which is what the Word Reference forum is all about, rather than stomping in here and trying to hijack this board without so much as a how do you do. By the way, I also read this thread, voted in your poll, and was annoyed and astonished at your rude comment about the people who chose not to vote.

Are you enjoying your little joke at my expense?
What have I done to show you any disrespect at all?

Your whole attitude is the problem. I wouldn't call it disrespect, so much as aggressive posturing. (You might want to read up on netiquette before joining any more forums and starting to attack people.) At first, I thought you were simply a troll, but now I've come to the conclusion that you're more of a newbie. I suggest you stop posting until you've matured.

You can have no knowledge of the reasons and ramifications of my banning from those forums and you have needlesly ripped a scab of an only partially healed wound?

I had no idea you were banned, but I suggest if you've been banned more than once (an inference from your post) the problem lies not with the forums which banned you but with yourself. You might want to reconsider whatever it is you did.

How the hell am I supposed to take your comment as anything other than, at best, snide and at worst just plain bloody mean?

As I said above, my first posting was a serious one, but my second one was more my way of saying, the Net's a small place. And, why are you posting the same poem in three different places? As for mean, I think you have been pretty mean and rude to a couple of members here. You should lighten up.

To Alexa Cohen:

For your information I have not been banned from any of the forums you mention.

I never said either of you were banned.

You could have chosen a better and more polite way of letting us know you recognized both of us.

See my explanation to .,, above. I had considered that you and he were in fact the same person by the way you swooped in and started posting in the same threads together, backing each other up, and generally annoying folks with your attitude. I think both of you should have lurked a bit to get the feel of the place before you started posting. This is common online courtesy.

I am free to go were we like and do what I like,
and so is .,,

I never said you weren't, though I would prefer it if both of you left.

If you're having trouble finding just the right forum to visit, I suggest you do what other people have done in the past and start your own. It's free and easy, and if you do it right, you'll attract like-minded people and have a fun time.

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
To .,,

Now that you have confirmed that you googled me and specifically chose these forums knowing that I have been banned from those forums what part of snide am I not to understand from your suggestion that I try the forums that I have been banned at?

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:Who mentioned banning? You did. I mentioned the first two forums because I sometimes go to them and I thought them more appropriate to the content of the question in your poll. It was only later, after posting, that I googled the line from your poem and found that you were on one of the sites which I suggested. I found it strange that you wouldn't be over there helping non-native speakers with their English, which is what the Word Reference forum is all about, rather than stomping in here and trying to hijack this board without so much as a how do you do. By the way, I also read this thread, voted in your poll, and was annoyed and astonished at your rude comment about the people who chose not to vote.

Which part of my comment to those who viewed and did not vote was rude?

I guess I have my answer.
Thirty views and only three votes for yes.
They have a bit of difficulty with English but not with counting.

.,,


How did you not notice that I was banned at Word Reference.
Banned.
It is a short word and appears on every one of my posts.

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:Are you enjoying your little joke at my expense?
What have I done to show you any disrespect at all?

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:Your whole attitude is the problem. I wouldn't call it disrespect, so much as aggressive posturing. (You might want to read up on netiquette before joining any more forums and starting to attack people.) At first, I thought you were simply a troll, but now I've come to the conclusion that you're more of a newbie. I suggest you stop posting until you've matured.

At first you thought I was a troll with no valid reason other than that I can write a blue streak and then you thought that I was a twin with a woman who is ten years yhounger than me and has none of my life experiences and lives on a different continent to me and uses utterly different word structures to me so you will have no trouble understanding taht my opinion of your opinion is lower than a snake's belly in a wheelrut.

You have no idea of who I am but you have felt free to sink the slipper into me from the moment that I arrived here on two WRONG reasons and now you have the bloody gall to give me advice on net etiquite. Pah!

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:You can have no knowledge of the reasons and ramifications of my banning from those forums and you have needlesly ripped a scab of an only partially healed wound?

I had no idea you were banned, but I suggest if you've been banned more than once (an inference from your post) the problem lies not with the forums which banned you but with yourself. You might want to reconsider whatever it is you did.

Perhaps it is the staggering suspicion of the bloody netequited people like yourself because you have a first impression of me that Pope John Paul the whatever could not change.

Why did you not lurke around me for a while before hitting me with snide after snide after snide and then getting up on your high horse when I finally bit back?

How many of your embedded insults did you expect me to swallow?

You rag at me about my attitude but you have been perceiving me as a trolol and a twin so who is wrong in their perceptions of what I have said.
What about you go back and re read my posts with no suspicion and accept that I am a genuine person.
I have already told you the reasons for my banning at those places and you are free to confirm it with the administrators.
I am not the first nor will I be the last real person to be treated like a troll. A troll only bloody exists on the bloody internet and you are telling me to lift my game when you imagine me to be a bloody troll. Damn!

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:How the hell am I supposed to take your comment as anything other than, at best, snide and at worst just plain bloody mean?

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:As I said above, my first posting was a serious one, but my second one was more my way of saying, the Net's a small place. And, why are you posting the same poem in three different places? As for mean, I think you have been pretty mean and rude to a couple of members here. You should lighten up.

Such as who?
Who have I been mean to?
You have been sniding me and sniding me thinking that I am a troll.
Were I the administrator I would be having a go at you.
You are the bloody experienced and senior member who is riding and sniding a newbie for all the wrong reasons.
I have not been mean nor aggressive to anybody.

Your administrator even told me publically that you mob debate in a spirited style.
I can not believe how rapidly that spirit vanished. Poof! A bloke started a thread examining a Brysonism and then packed his ball and bat and left. Why? What had been said other than the opinion that Bryson was an adequate travel writer and a failed comedian?
Am I not entitled to my opinion of writers?
Who had I shown disrespect to?

I found disrespect in the twists and turns that were made to establish the humour of the 'joke'.
The biggest being the 'it's not a war joke' refrain.
Why the camouflage reference.
That's the tag.
The key for the listener to locate the 'joke'.
If it is not a war joke what is it.
Is camouflage a word not associated with war in that context?

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:See my explanation to .,, above. I had considered that you and he were in fact the same person by the way you swooped in and started posting in the same threads together, backing each other up, and generally annoying folks with your attitude. I think both of you should have lurked a bit to get the feel of the place before you started posting. This is common online courtesy.

I believe taht I have displayed far more courtesy than I have received.

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:I never said you weren't, though I would prefer it if both of you left.

That is and has been blindingly bloody obvious.
What gives you the right to limit my internet experience?
You can ignore me.
You even have an automatic feature that makes it simple for you.
Click a button and you will never see me again.
Why do you think it appropriate to hound me out of the place while you still have utterly no idea of who I am.
Well here I am.
See if you want to keep trying to hound me out.

You may ban me bout you won't hound me. An entire god damned State has tried that and it is currently floundering in the dangerous shoals of very severe litigation in the N.S.W. Supreme Court.
I am;
http://www.austlii.edu.au//cgi-bin/disp.pl/au/cases/nsw...72.html?query=bennie
Good luck with your sniding and hounding. We'll have fun.
I won't litigate you but I also will not kneel to you.
I am right.
I am a good person.
I will admit error.
I have made no error here.
If you review the situation we may be able to benefit from each other because you know I am right and you know that you are wrong.
It is not your fault. This joint is obviously full of trolls. I am not a troll.
Review my words.
I am real.
If you are real we will enhance each other.
I do not hold petty grudges.

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:If you're having trouble finding just the right forum to visit, I suggest you do what other people have done in the past and start your own. It's free and easy, and if you do it right, you'll attract like-minded people and have a fun time.

I am absolutely not interested in meeting a like mind person.
What would I learn?
I seek variety and knowledge and understanding.

Can I lace this space between us
weave a web of word and deed
Give my version of the reason
show you secrets I have seen
When I walked in private places
tasted sights and felt each dream
Share with you ideas and wonder
Who I know and what I've been
You may join in should you care to
with your thoughts and then your deeds
Will you grant me cause to ponder
when I know your thoughts of me

.,,

quote:

See my explanation to .,, above. I had considered that you and he were in fact the same person by the way you swooped in and started posting in the same threads together, backing each other up, and generally annoying folks with your attitude. I think both of you should have lurked a bit to get the feel of the place before you started posting. This is common online courtesy.

I never said you weren't, though I would prefer it if both of you left.

If you're having trouble finding just the right forum to visit, I suggest you do what other people have done in the past and start your own. It's free and easy, and if you do it right, you'll attract like-minded people and have a fun time.

I feel quite honoured that you thought, even for a minute, I was the same person as .,,
You must have studied us quite well to know when we joined a forum, what forum we joined, and what folks we annoyed.
It's common courtesy between friends to say to one another "hey mate, I've found a place that sounds interesting, care to come with me?".
I'm not having trouble finding a forum; as I've already said, I've been not banned anywhere and
can stay, or go away, at my own will.
If you don't want people who do not think like you here, you can put an advertisement under the "join in" sign saying "non pedantic abstain" and neither of us would have joined.
I don't give a damn about what you prefer. If I'm banned, I'll go away and good riddance.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Alexa Cohen,

quote:

Originally posted by wordmatic:
??????????

My wife is a wog.
She was born in what used to be Croatia.
I am a skip.
I was born in what is still Australia.
I called my wife a wog and the administrator got the shits even though the word is not in current use in her area.
I have been married to my wog wife for 20 years and have never had any trouble calling her a wog and she has never had any trouble calling me a skip unless we are surrounded by wasps.

.,,
The previous posts are me dealing with your very subtle welcoming committee.
I am losing something in the translation but I have waded through thicker treacle before.
There are some fascinating opinions here but there certainly is no shortage of opinions.

.,,

quote:

Originally posted by zmježd:
To .,,

Now that you have confirmed that you googled me and specifically chose these forums knowing that I have been banned from those forums what part of snide am I not to understand from your suggestion that I try the forums that I have been banned at?

Who mentioned banning? You did. I mentioned the first two forums because I sometimes go to them and I thought them more appropriate to the content of the question in your poll. It was only later, after posting, that I googled the line from your poem and found that you were on one of the sites which I suggested. I found it strange that you wouldn't be over there helping non-native speakers with their English, which is what the Word Reference forum is all about, rather than stomping in here and trying to hijack this board without so much as a how do you do. By the way, I also read this thread, voted in your poll, and was annoyed and astonished at your rude comment about the people who chose not to vote.

Are you enjoying your little joke at my expense?
What have I done to show you any disrespect at all?

Your whole attitude is the problem. I wouldn't call it disrespect, so much as aggressive posturing. (You might want to read up on netiquette before joining any more forums and starting to attack people.) At first, I thought you were simply a troll, but now I've come to the conclusion that you're more of a newbie. I suggest you stop posting until you've matured.

You can have no knowledge of the reasons and ramifications of my banning from those forums and you have needlesly ripped a scab of an only partially healed wound?

I had no idea you were banned, but I suggest if you've been banned more than once (an inference from your post) the problem lies not with the forums which banned you but with yourself. You might want to reconsider whatever it is you did.

How the hell am I supposed to take your comment as anything other than, at best, snide and at worst just plain bloody mean?

As I said above, my first posting was a serious one, but my second one was more my way of saying, the Net's a small place. And, why are you posting the same poem in three different places? As for mean, I think you have been pretty mean and rude to a couple of members here. You should lighten up.

To Alexa Cohen:

For your information I have not been banned from any of the forums you mention.

I never said either of you were banned.

You could have chosen a better and more polite way of letting us know you recognized both of us.

See my explanation to .,, above. I had considered that you and he were in fact the same person by the way you swooped in and started posting in the same threads together, backing each other up, and generally annoying folks with your attitude. I think both of you should have lurked a bit to get the feel of the place before you started posting. This is common online courtesy.

I am free to go were we like and do what I like,
and so is .,,

I never said you weren't, though I would prefer it if both of you left.

If you're having trouble finding just the right forum to visit, I suggest you do what other people have done in the past and start your own. It's free and easy, and if you do it right, you'll attract like-minded people and have a fun time.

I guess I know who voted no.
Are foreigners or aliens not like minded enough for your insular thinking?

.,,
Yup that was snide.

quote:

Originally posted by arnie:

quote:

I plagiarised Joyce

How ridiculous. The words have a Joycean feel. No more.

Then you chose your previous words quite poorly,
crazy diamond.

quote:

Originally posted by Alexa Cohen:

quote:

Originally posted by arnie:

quote:

I plagiarised Joyce

How ridiculous. The words have a Joycean feel. No more.

Then you chose your previous words quite poorly,
crazy diamond.

And I am amused to be compared to Joyce who I consider to be a great artist if not necessarily a great writer.
No intelligent forth former would confuse my writing with that of Joyce.
Joyce seeks the opposite of lucidity.
Joyce mocks mirrors that reflect mirrors that reflect mirrors that hint at glints of imagined whatsame.
I write for interpretation and to remove the hideousness of intense experiences to create joy.

I have been questioned for posting the same poem on three different forums because I posted Occam's Recovery here.
The well read observer quoted another of my poems os a similar name and style but of staggeringly different subject matter in Occam's Revence.
The former being a healing chanted template of recovery from hideous injury by turning mountains into molehills.
The latter being an ugly chanted curse at hubris turning a mountain into a molehill.

The problem for the casual observer is that only one word in the title is modified and the text contains exactly the same seven words but the order is reversed but this was not noticed.
Perspicacious or what?

See here's the thing.
Some joints love acronyms which just leaves non English speakers completely in the dark but in a place of eloquent words all sorts of acronyms are dangerous.
Why is is difficult to type laugh out loud or similar.
You see a person laughing but I see two things in one.
Little Old Lady is the common Aussie understanding of lol.
Lol is also short for lolling or lying about.
Little old ladies lol about in the boiling bath when they are dead after slipping while adjusting the gas shower and being found three days later in a household sauna like with her fecund aroma.
I will not tell you what it smelled like as it is an American icon that I am confronted with daily.
The smell was so intense that I burned my leather gear and entire uniform including boots and sadly I wasn't wearing my cap so that didn't get burnt but I got a short haircut and shampooed twice daily for a month or so.

It has been my experience in life that if a person is misunderstood by another person and the other person comes to understand that the first person has been misunderstood then the best bet is to not keep yelling at the first person as if the first person is fair dinkum a simple handshake from the second person smooths mountains and leaves no molehills.

.,,

As I have written previously, I love debate but hate rows. Sadly some of the debate on this board recently seems to have degenerated into the latter and I will not be party to it.

One of the finest things about this site is not its content but its general good manners. If it loses its mannerliness than it will surely lose some of its long-standing contributors - including this writer.

So please, people, disagree by all means but keep the disagreement factual, polite and non-personal.