Subject: Re: Basketball with the Big Boys [was RE: Words, words, words]
From: Tim O'Connor (oconnort@nyu.edu)
Date: Mon Jan 24 2000 - 22:44:47 EST
On Mon, Jan 24, 2000 at 07:17:09PM -0500, Paul Kennedy wrote:
> types. Even Scottie--who's the biggest boy I know--goes out of his way,
> from time to time, to welcome fry (is that the correct monniker for younger
> fishes?) and commend their honest efforts at communication. We're all among
> friends. There's no reason to be intimidated.
I can't second this strongly enough. I think this calls for a top-hat
and cigar stub of endorsement!
> I'm not enormously familiar with the culture of lists. But I'm essentially
> a democrat. There should never be Big Boys and little girls. But if
> anybody is engaged in such distinctions, let me say that I'd like to be on
> the girls' team.
You have that right. No need for distinctions like that here. New
people will see two things: the spouting forth of "thou shalt not"
commands about language, and, in some cases, the careful and precise use
of language, which may serve as a model of some kind. That's the best
way to learn.
What bothers me most of all -- and bothers me not because I think it's
wrong but because I think it makes the posting person too
self-dismissive -- is when someone say something like:
I think this is where I was, but oh well, whatever,
I probably don't know what I'm talking about.
Don't undersell yourself. There are enough landmines in the world that
you don't have to construct your own personal field of them.
--tim
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