Truth be told, had I not indicated previously about personal digs and subtle hints I would have overlooked the comment. If anything the insult itself was rather weak, but i did not get a “grasping at straws” vibe at all. The warning was not for personal insults but instead for failure to follow instructions. The combination of naming the poster directly with the uncouth crotch reference was enough of a hint at a personal dig of a sexual nature that I viewed it as violative of the instruction.
Remember that there is also a standing rule about implying or stating that other poster achieve sexual gratification and while crotch grabbing itself isn’t far over the line in that regard, the combination of the innuendo with the calling out was a bridge too far.
We always tend to eschew hypthetical examples so as not to give a playbook how to skirt the rules, but if the two factors of naming the poster and the sexual reference were not present then I likely would not have issued the warning.
Hope that provides clarity. One warning is not altogether a big deal. We are all human and mostly adults. Warnings serve as a reminder to our members of the rules of the board.
Digging with teaspoons is one thing, and as long as everyone keeps the digging with teaspoons … once the tablespoons, soup ladles, shovels and back-hoes come out … inevitably someone’s going to bring dynamite, H-bombs and supernovea …
Moderator says “no more digging even with teaspoons” …
Your defense is “I was only using a teaspoon” … if your comment was #584, you’re fine; if your comment was #586, you get a warning … simple …
I got a warning from JC a few months ago for insulting in the Election forum, even though the target of that insult has publicly stated in the Pit that I’m on his “ignore” list, so he wouldn’t have seen the insult in the first place.
You’re joking, right? Not about getting the warning, but implying you had a “get out of jail free” card because you thought the poster had you on ignore?
Well, no. I didn’t think I had a pass to insult without ramifications. I figured I’d get a mod note, at worst. I’m merely pointing out that, based on my experience, using an “insult with an asterisk” wouldn’t fly for anyone.
I can read that post in the context of that thread 100 times, and never once do I get the metaphor of “grasping at straws.” If the OP had used that term in the context of someone making a strawman argument, I could ALMOST believe he THINKS he has a defense.:dubious:
"Every noun has a gender, and there is no sense or system in the distribution; so the gender of each must be learned separately and by heart. There is no other way. To do this one has to have a memory like a memorandum-book. In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip has. Think what overwrought reverence that shows for the turnip, and what callous disrespect for the girl. See how it looks in print – I translate this from a conversation in one of the best of the German Sunday-school books:
Gretchen: Wilhelm, where is the turnip? Wilhelm: She has gone to the kitchen. Gretchen: Where is the accomplished and beautiful English maiden? Wilhelm: It has gone to the opera."
The world would have been a better place if linguists hadn’t decided to use “gender” to differentiate. But Twain was kind of wrong that foreign language speakers quite memorize the gender of each word. When they’re growing up and learning words the article is usually included so they aren’t learning what a “table” is, they learn what “la table” is. It is still more complicated than English, of course. I was speaking with some french friends about how they remember and they mentioned some words are harder to remember than others and listed a few examples. Every one they listed started with a vowel which in French uses " L’ " instead of “Le” or “La”.
If you are memorizing a word using the definite article form (which is “gender” based) as part of the word, then you are, indeed, memorizing the gender of each word. Learning “le mouton” instead of “la mouton” means you have learned that sheep are masculine as a noun.
Of course, I think CarnalK means that it was not a separate step of memorization which is required for people who are not native speakers and is part of the subconscious part of learning a language as a child.
Both Chinese and Japanese languages don’t use articles such as “a” or “an” and so when one of these speakers learns English, they have to memorize which nouns take which one or don’t require one such as for uncountable objects. Of course, that aspect is much easier than learning gender. [/hijack]
Yes that’s what I meant and why I used the example of words starting with vowels because those words bypass the subconcious way most word’s gender’s are learned.