On 07/11/05, Delphine Ménard notafishz@gmail.com wrote:
Mark,
When the matter goes as far as Milos saying that the Serbian and Montenegro Chapter does not want to be part of Wikimedia, I think you should really try to evaluate what damage you have caused.
The damage *I* have caused? I think that the damage here has been caused mostly by Milos and the other Serbian nationalists who have decided to try to prevent the Zlatiborians from having their own Wikipedia.
I am going to ask you to finally make your point and stop playing around. I have reread this whole thread and am now convinced this is all a hoax. Great. Very funny. Can you please make your point and let us be finished with this whole thing?
Again, you're making it sound as if this is all my fault. I, who have not proposed this new Wikipedia in the first place. It was proposed by User:SellackAlex. I merely supported it.
It wasn't a real problem until Milos and the other anti-Zlatiborians decided to make a big fuss to try to prevent the glorious people of Zlatibor from getting the Wikipedia they so richly deserve in their beautiful native language, and for petty political reasons.
I am also going to ask you to consider one thing, you the paragon of forgotten languages and languages in general. You seem to have forgotten one very important thing. You have been leading this whole hoax in English, using irony and double-meanings, with emphasis and great sentences. But you are dealing with people (myself included) who are not native English speakers. And who, as you may have noticed, have failed to see the irony and have taken the matter at heart. In short, you have been using them.
You've lost me with that paragraph. Come again?
As a non-native English speaker, and yet someone who strives to master the language, I am probably best placed to say how the most difficult thing to catch in a language is humour. And how when humour is lost on someone and you see it drift in seriousness, you should just hold you hand up and say "stop! I was joking". Hurting feelings and making fun of people because they don't speak your language is about the worst thing I can see happening in this supposedly "multicultural" community. Most of us are making efforts to address you in a language you master, you have not made that effort. Not even one little bit.
I'm not sure what humour has to do with this. If you want to address me in some other language, though, I'll try as hard as I can to understand it. It was my choice to write in English because it is the language in which I am most comfortable. Nobody forced you to respond in English. If you were to respond in French, it would be difficult for me but with some effort I could understand what you said. Now, don't tell me I haven't made an effort when it is by your own choice that I have not had an opportunity to make such an effort.
As far as making fun of people, I certainly agree. Nobody should be made fun of because of their ability or lack thereof in any given language.
On another note, I am sorry to tell you that you have, on top of playing with people's feelings, failed to make your point. At least, *I* have failed to see where you were leading. Blame it on my non-English-speaker-ness, or whatever else suits your funny self. But hey, target missed. Game over.
Again, you've lost me.
I will add just one thing. You and all of the other native English speakers who played along and never tried to clear things up should really once try and put themselves in our shoes. Once. Just once. I believe it would help. Really.
Wha??
Mark
-- "Take away their language, destroy their souls." -- Joseph Stalin