Take a crack at it, then. Tell me the reasonable alternative explanation.
Jaded from all your years of seeing this happen here?
Asks someone who doesn’t believe that reasonable alternative explanations exist.
There have been several proposed, including Miller’s. You yourself said that you were “turning” the insult against him.
We’ve telling you. That’s the trouble.
Three, soon to be four, pages.
I’ll wait for the movie.
[QUOTE=SenorBeef]
Take a crack at it, then. Tell me the reasonable alternative explanation.
[/QUOTE]
there is no need for a reasonable alternative explanation - yours works just fine. He insulted you, you insulted him back.
Regards,
Shodan
I actually agree with SenorBeef. When read in context, there is an unwritten qualifier, “by your own logic.” When you apply that qualifier, SenorBeef is not calling whatshisname a loser. To me, that’s the obvious and natural meaning, but I understand everyone’s interpretation of written language is different.
Just my $1.59’s worth …
Whatever the motivation of the first who said “You’re a loser” … the second was, in part, retaliation … a more serious issue. It’s the second person who throw a punch that’s guilty of fighting.
Not really. That’s self defense.
Just because a poster defines X as an insult, doesn’t mean X can’t be assigned to that poster. You did not refute an insult-- you threw the insult back at the guy who threw it at you. And insult needn’t be “out of the blue”, because you “didn’t like the guy” and it can even be some characteristic you have yourself.
A reasonable interpretation is that you were pissed at him for insulting you, and you decided to turn the insult back on him. That’s what it looks like to most of the folks posting in this thread. The fact that you can’t see it is not an indictment of us.
Thanks for your reply, Clark! I knew it wasn’t that hard of a question!
As for your two points. I agree that a second-person statement is pretty much always going to be more personal than a third-person statement. That’s pretty much the nature of how ‘person’ works. But the degree of personality is a different axis from the insultingness of a statement. “Turns out you’re the bigger loser” is more personal, but equally insulting to, “Turns out he’s the bigger loser.”
For your other point, I agree. The hypothetical statement was softened. Let’s pretend instead Poster B said, “Turns out Barack Obama is racist” in the same context. Would that be an insult?
If it’s unwritten, then there’s nothing to interpret. We can only interpret actual words written on the page.
There’s so much tap dancing going on in this thread, I feel like I’m watching a Fred Astaire movie.
Why is it not an insult if I say “by you’re own logic, you’re an idiot”? I’m still calling the guy an idiot. Even if you explicit write those magic words, I don’t see why they would be a get out of jail free card.
I believe this is known as message board fundamentalism.
My interpretation is different. If you say, “anyone named John is an idiot.” And I respond, “by your own logic, you are an idiot.” Did I just call you an idiot? I don’t think I did. I explained that if you apply your standard of what constitutes an idiot, then you meet it. I have not proclaimed my own standard nor whether you meet it.
SenorBeef didn’t say that. He said
(His exact wording.)
I don’t see this as anything but a direct insult. There was no qualifier. I don’t see how anyone can honestly interpret it as anything else.
I’m aware of his exact wording. I was responding to John Mace. SenorBeef’s qualifier is unstated. If you just look at the single sentence you posted, it’s right there in black in white and no interpretation is necessary. But you’d be examining the statement out of context. If you read it in full, along with the other guy’s argument, the reader will infer the “by your logic” qualifier.
Unfortunately, the rules don’t cover that.
The “by your own logic, you’re an idiot” defense reminds me of the “stop hitting yourself!” defense, which has never been very successful either.
Did you mean to post this in the “What’s an example of a non-sequitur” thread?
I’ve been message boarding a long time and I’ve never heard that, “by your own logic” were the magical words you claim them to be.