Informality of Forums and Linguistic Complexity

[ℕ Hilbert-WARing Theorem™]

You don't need perfect English to participate in these forums. Some of the top contributors both in quality and in quantity are not fluent. Even a lot of members of our team are not native apeakers, although we all can communicate in English my own skill level isn't the best and I'd like to improve it quite a bit.

 

Yes this. I would like to see some of the elitist native speakers I've met in my time on the internet converse in Russian, Spanish, Dutch or any other language. Being better than a foreigner at your own tongue is not really an impressive feat in my opinion

 

Of course, that was never one of my claims, although I may have accidentally offended a few. They have my apologies. If you are careful, you will see that I did not say non-English speakers cannot participate meaningfully; there are countless counterexamples in this very discussion. There is really no such thing as an elite English speaker, although there are varying degrees of proficiency in English, as there are in any field. There are those who would exercise correct grammar to a fault, but I have never tried to be condescending to those who are not as studied in the English conventions. I never expressed pride in being better than a foreigner at my own tongue due to, as you said, the lack of achievement in such an ability. My greatest error in this thread was to use the term, "lowest common denominator". I tried to use this mostly in a non-classicist way to mean those who are not as well developed in a particular area, rather than those were are inherently less capable. It is more a matter of experience and learning than anything else.

[Teeny Tiny Cat]

You may not be trying to be condescending, but you're still coming across that way. You seem to be taking criticism in a reasonable manner though, and that's the most important thing.

[ℕ Hilbert-WARing Theorem™]

You may not be trying to be condescending, but you're still coming across that way. You seem to be taking criticism in a reasonable manner though, and that's the most important thing.

 

The motivation for creating this thread, if you followed through, came through an impromptu conversation with Angel Mander, who tried to talk some sense into me. I then asked the community for further criticism, essentially. If an idea is reasonable, I will find a way to absorb and appreciate it. Opinions are always defeated by facts if they are in contradiction with one another, that is quite evident in all human arguments. However, if may ask, how am I still coming across as condescending?

[Teeny Tiny Cat]

Still as in nevertheless, not still as in up to and including now.

 

You are coming across as condescending in this thread despite not meaning to, is how that sentence was intended. Not that you are doing so in the post directly above mine.

[000xxx]

sesquipedalianism ≠ pretentiousness ≠ effective communication. Your tour de force was neither the former nor the latter, I'm afraid. :/