[pmwiki-users] User level for this forum? a cry for help (was Blogging support?)

Marc Cooper gmane at auxbuss.com
Sat Aug 19 04:21:18 CDT 2006


Kathryn Andersen said...
> On Thu, Aug 17, 2006 at 08:44:00PM +0200, kirpi at kirpi.it wrote:
> > > From the Frapper, it appears that fully half of the PmWiki community
> > > are non-native English speakers.
> > 
> > Let's get the chance to stress the point here: please be kind and
> > write well, you English speakers :-)
> > 
> > Slang, non-standard vocabulary, gratuitous acronyms,... although
> > suitable while chatting between friends or sending sms over mobiles,
> > are probably not a good way to deal with a world-wide audience.
> 
> Now I feel all defensive.  I *do* use standard vocabulary, I'm not using
> slang, and I feel it's rather unfair to be targeted for using standard
> English idioms which I might use completely unconciously, but which
> *are* standard English -- but unfortunately don't translate well.
> 
> And since I'm using them unconciously, I'm probably not aware when
> something is an idiom and when something is more literal.
> 
> (An idiom is a phrase which is commonly used, but whose normally
> understood meaning is not the same as its literal meaning.)
> 
> Kathryn Andersen

I often buy a book of idioms for non-native speaking friends, once they 
reach good conversational level - that includes Americans :-) The fun 
part comes when they start to translate their idioms and include them in 
conversation. And so the language is enriched. Of course, there are 
those who would like to dumb it down; I've heard it called "natural 
contraction" - and it sounds about as painful as giving birth sounds.

-- 
Best,
Marc

If god made us the way we are, how come he built us out of spare chimp 
parts?





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