God aften, verld…
Well, where to begin?
bj0rn: you’re very welcome - I enjoy your posts tremendously, particularly in this context… I hope you will carry on for as long as it gives you amusement to do so
Coldfire: as you say, yes, I’m disagreeing with you, no, I didn’t particularly set out to attack you - I must get into the habit of editing before posting, not thinking about it afterwards… However, since I did post it, I am obliged to explain it:
“Wankies” was a term briefly in use here in the late 80s to describe Brits who went too far in trying to assimilate US culture (wankies <> Yankees, Rouss - it rhymes - clever, isn’t it?); they ended up becoming sycophants of, and bad imitations of, Americans - “mock-Americans”, in fact - like “mock-turtle” - “mock” in this context = fake, sham. The point of the remark was this: You can say what you like about bj0rn for as long as you like, although as I hope I’ve made clear, I think you’re dead wrong; BUT in going so far as to apologise on behalf of Europe* to a mostly American public, entirely unnecessarily, you lose balance and hurtle towards “wankiedom” - ie, you demean both yourself, which is your prerogative, if their good opinion is so important to you that you feel you need to do this, and the rest of Europe, which is very much not your prerogative at all. To bring me back to my last post, you do not speak for me, and it annoys me that you seem to imply that you can apologise on my behalf (as a European) for sth that needs no apology to begin with. I hope that clarifies it. I do not especially insist on the precise wording, but I do stand by the concept.
(*and I can’t find the message offhand but I know it’s not far away…)
I did not intend to have a go at you particularly, and I have read lots of your previous posts with enjoyment, but on this one point you go too far.
For the rest, no, of course I’m not bj0rn - can’t you tell a native speaker? I use capitals correctly, and my English is so good that Rousseau doesn’t even know half the words - buy (borrow, steal) a dictionary, sonshine… although you wd have to learn the alphabet to use it…
Dobranoc wszystkich…