Re: YAC: Widse -- a conlang based on Ygyde

En réponse à John Cowan <jcowan@...>:

>
> I have heard, rightly or wrongly, that "shit" is a much stronger
> pejorative
> than "merde" is.
>
I'd hardly know how, since calling something "merde" in French is the worst
insult you can imagine. You can of course concatenate insults in French easily,
but not in this case.

>
> Hardly.  It's just honest vehement disagreement, not an attempt to
> censor you.
How am I supposed to know? When the only reply I get from a full sentence
is "NOT!", how can I guess that it replies to only a part of the sentence? A "I
disagree" would have been clearer. Whether meant so or not, a simple "NOT!"
*is* an attempt at censorship. I've always heard people interpreting it like
that, and not only in France.

> The "according to me" is parenthetical, and not part of the
> disagreement.
Again, how am I supposed to know from such a small word, shouted like that?
Especially when other people I know - including English-speaking people -,
would interpret it as I did (I know that from quite a few conversations I had
with my friend and other people on this subject).

> Similarly, if A says "I think such-and-such" and B says "Not so", the
> opposition
> is to the "such-and-such", not to A's claim about what he thinks.
I never said that Sally meant it this way. I just said that it came out this
way. And I'm pretty sure plenty of other people (I know quite a few, and of
different nationalities and mothertongue) would have interpreted it the same
way. And even if in English it's that way, I can't help but finding it
extremely impolite. Even when you disagree with somebody's opinion, you *don't*
reply "NOT!" or "Not so". That's negating the other's opinion without a reason,
and make it sound like it's an absolute truth. Even if it's not an attempt at
censoring what the other said, it's still a rude behaviour.

> What is logical is not English.  :-)
>
I doubt it's an Englishism. It's rather more a difference in sensitivity to
those kinds of things.

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.