Re: OT: Intergermansk - Traveller's Phrasebook

On 6 Feb 2005, at 7.03 am, Thomas R. Wier wrote:

> Pascal wrote:
>> The lazy American speech habits might even slur "tank du"
>> into "tanku" or something =/ You never know...
>
> So, are all Germanophones as gratuitously rude and uncouth as you,
> or are you unique? You're not the first I've had unpleasant
> experiences with, I must say...
I can very well understand that Thomas R. Wier is annoyed about the repeated
gratuitous rudeness of Pascal Kramm. However, it's unfair to say that this
is because he'd speak German. He's the only German speaker on this list who
uses an insulting language.

Additionally, posts by non native English speakers sometimes might appear to
be insulting without intention, since politeness in English is more
difficult to learn than in other languages because it lacks an explicit
politeness marking, e.g. in verbal forms (as is found in many other European
languages).

And as Tristan McLeay has said, Pascal Kramm's answer referred directly to
what Gary had written, so in this case he hasn't been rude.

kry@s:
j. 'mach' wust