# Cajun Man: Not so much of a Pitting as a Question **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 9, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858 "2005-09-09T18:51:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/1 "2005-09-09T18:51:14Z")
You shut down [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=334057), which was as mudane and pointless as they come, not for being too mudane and pointless, but rather for this reason: > [@Cajun Man](#): > > The Straight Dope Message Board is owned by a publication based in the USA. The common language of all the moderators of this message board is English. For that reason we ask that all posts on this message board be made in English. The staff members need to be able to read and understand posts made at the message board. 😕 Am I missing something? All I see are a bunch of rectangles. The last time I checked rectangles weren’t a language. Could **Cajun Man** or someone else enlighten me? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/2 "2005-09-09T18:52:19Z")
Get a better browser. It was chock-full of ideoglyphs. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/3 "2005-09-09T18:52:58Z")
My guess is that if you have the right character code on your computer, they will turn out to be Arabic or Chinese or something. ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/4 "2005-09-09T18:54:09Z")
Either your web browser or your operating system (or both) are not configured properly to render Asian fonts. On my system, the “rectangles” in that thread show up as Chinese characters. Or Japanese. Or … one of those languages. I really can’t tell. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/5 "2005-09-09T18:55:54Z")
Huh, they were question marks for me- Firefox on Win2K. I thought everyone was typing question marks, and **Cajun Man** just closed a dumb thread with a clever joke. 😃 Must look in Safari tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/6 "2005-09-09T19:00:29Z")
As a matter of clarification, the language was Japanese: I can read enough of it to distinguish it from Chinese, but not enough to read more than a few characters, e.g., インターネット for “intaanetto”, or “Internet”. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/7 "2005-09-09T19:13:32Z")
I agree. Japanese. But the only thing I really recognized was a reference to Mr. Sparkle. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/8 "2005-09-09T19:20:01Z")
Huh. Well, that takes a lot of the fun out of it for me. All I saw was boxes. ---
**Author:** ![Pixisis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Pixisis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixisis)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/9 "2005-09-09T19:30:54Z")
It was Japanese. the opening post was これはテストである which transliterates into kore wa tesuto de aru which translates into “this is a test” in the plain form. except they got the particle wrong, it should’ve been ga not de. the weird thing is that it started out in About This Message Board but it was moved to MPSIMS after 30 posts. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/10 "2005-09-09T20:14:47Z")
Oh. Well don’t I feel silly. At least **Cajun Man** gets a point in the most pitted mod game. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/11 "2005-09-09T20:25:32Z")
It’s not even his fault . . . he just has a smarter machine at his disposal than I do. My old Windows computer saw just the boxes. There was nothing in the original posting to indicate they were testing a font set . . . and when I saw the responses, I figured “a joke, a joke,” and promptly sent it off to MPSIMS . . . where Cajun Man (who DID see Japanese and not little boxes all made of ticky-tacky like I did), he did his thing and closed it. Bad on me for not having a better machine, but Cajun Man didn’t earn this one. He did exactly what we tell him to do when he comes across this sort of thing. And _I_ sent it to him. So blame me for not seeing it . . . and the OP for not making the intent clear. We do allow testing of alternate font sets in ATMB, but I didn’t see it and didn’t know. For the record, I don’t have Greek or Lithuanian either, but don’t get any funny ideas, okay? your humble TubaDiva ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/12 "2005-09-09T20:30:22Z")
Ahhh…well, that clears up the “Wait…foreign language threads are verbotten here, and **TubaDiva** _moved_ the thread instead of closing it??” confusion I had going. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/13 "2005-09-09T20:36:40Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > Does not have sex with sheep. Sure, you say that NOW. your humble TubaDiva Is that lanolin you’re wearing or are you just happy to see me? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/14 "2005-09-09T21:25:01Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > I agree. Japanese. But the only thing I really recognized was a reference to Mr. Sparkle. What a brave corporate logo! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/15 "2005-09-09T22:38:54Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > Bad on me for not having a better machine, but Cajun Man didn’t earn this one. He did exactly what we tell him to do when he comes across this sort of thing. And _I_ sent it to him. > > So blame me for not seeing it . . . and the OP for not making the intent clear. We do allow testing of alternate font sets in ATMB, but I didn’t see it and didn’t know. Feh. You’re just trying to steal his points in the most pitted mod game. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/16 "2005-09-09T22:46:30Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Feh. You’re just trying to steal his points in the most pitted mod game. Who is the most pitted mod? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/17 "2005-09-09T23:00:16Z")
> [@rayh](#): > > Who is the most pitted mod? Look, just because I had a bad case of acne during my teenage years is no reas…what? …[Emily Litella]Nevermind.[/Emiliy litella] ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/18 "2005-09-10T00:31:07Z")
For the record, I started that thread as a test. I had no intention of it taking on a life of it’s own, and certainly didn’t expect it to leave the ATMB. I admit, once it started rolling, I had some fun with it. For those of you who are interested, I was testing Google’s new English/Japanese/English addition to their [Language Translator](http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en). It is still in beta, so I assume it’s new. I just wanted to see if it would appear in Japanese on these boards… If you are interested in what I was saying, you can translate it back to English, but it gets pretty fractured by then. I apologize if it caused any problems, and ask you not to use the language translators for evil. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/19 "2005-09-10T00:52:18Z")
Cajun Man did the right thing. The mods had to do this few years ago when two swarthy, Latin types started chittering away in that crazy moon language they speak south of the border way down in Brazil. Non-Portuguese speaking members got irritated and felt out of the loop, so we had to put he big English hammer down to stop all that multilingual foolishness. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858/20 "2005-09-10T22:39:28Z")
Well, if Latin were still the common language for diplomats and so forth, we could insist on Latin. Or if French, then ditto. But it happens that English (like it or not) has become the most prevalent second language, by a long shot, and so it is not unreasonable for a message board that intends to appeal to a multicultural and multi-lingual audience to insist on English as a common language. If people want to have a private conversation in Russian or Thai, there are lots of chatrooms and places where they can do just that. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cajun-man-not-so-much-of-a-pitting-as-a-question/320858.md?page=2)