The Inconstant Gardener

Originally posted by divegeester
As I recall, every time this has occurred I take the trouble of apologising for insulting you you, but you never reciprocate, which is interesting.

I hereby apologise for any insults. I really do honestly wish we could have more civil conversations but whenever we talk it always turns it into a fight. I don't think that is all on me. I will try and be more civil in future and hope you do the same. In this thread, my first post was, I think reasonable. Your response was to suggest I was too stupid to understand the context of the first two posts. That is what triggered my further responses.

I do think the question of plant rights is an interesting one and worthy of discussion, but I suspect the thread is too poisoned to pursue it further and I am sorry for that.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I hereby apologise for any insults. I really do honestly wish we could have more civil conversations but whenever we talk it always turns it into a fight. I don't think that is all on me. I will try and be more civil in future and hope you do the same.

I do think the question of plant rights is an interesting one and worthy of discussion, but I suspect the thread is too poisoned to pursue it further and I am sorry for that.

With apologies to Goad, why not post it in a new thread?

I promise to contribute and leave this discussion behind as well!

Originally posted by Rank outsider
An interpreter simply translates something somebody expresses from one language to another. It is not the job of a translater to explain or validate the argument.

If what I said is what Dive meant, then I have interpreted it perfectly. The fact that you are still not sure if it is actually true or not has no bearing on my ability as an interpreter.

(Annoying, isn't it?)

I have work with translators in my job from time to time. I could be assessing something which is occurring in Polish or German and the translator tells me what is going on; based on what they tell me I have to assess the person/team involved against a set of predetermined standards, write a report, deliver it, explain my findings, justify the quantitative elements through a qualitative narrative.

If I haven't briefed the translator as well as I could have, it gets tough. What I'm looking for is actually not a translation, it's an interpretation of the exchange. I.e. I don't want to hear every word, I want a paraphrase, the story, the key points, an accurate walk-through.

It's my impression that mathematics cannot be misinterpreted; perhaps it can? But language is often misinterpreted and written language even more so. Email, the scourge of best intentions. This forum is basically email.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I hereby apologise for any insults. I really do honestly wish we could have more civil conversations but whenever we talk it always turns it into a fight. I don't think that is all on me. I will try and be more civil in future and hope you do the same. In this thread, my first post was, I think reasonable. Your response was to suggest I was too stupid to ...[text shortened]... scussion, but I suspect the thread is too poisoned to pursue it further and I am sorry for that.

Thank you, let's both make the effort. If it goes wrong, let's stop and take a break before resuming.

Originally posted by Rank outsider
With apologies to Goad, why not post it in a new thread?

I promise to contribute and leave this discussion behind as well!

Apology accepted, as long as you call me Ghost.

🙂

Originally posted by Ghost of a Duke
Apology accepted, as long as you call me Ghost.

🙂

Just be thankful your name isn't 'Ghost of Norman, a Duke'.....

Originally posted by twhitehead
On the topic of hypocrisy the last time I participated in a lengthy thread with div was one where he accused another poster of meaning a particular thing in a post and despite that posters repeated explanations that that was not what he meant, div maintained otherwise to the very end. I am not aware of him ever recanting and accepting an alternative meani ...[text shortened]... act that I rub him the wrong way he was not willing to admit it and chose instead to wind me up.

For the record (grins), I concede that googlefudge could have meant that OP, and probably did mean it, another way. My initial response in that thread was (as I remember thinking at the time) deliberately picking up on the superficial wording that was used. I wasn't trying to pick a fight just presenting his words back in a particular way that was linguistically correct but denying the contextual nuances. We all do this from time to time, usually it generates debate.

Technically I was correct and I stand by that, as "technically" you are often correct. But once we started bickering I was not going to concede that there could a more rounded meaning the syntax used, I was too pissed off. Silly isn't it, but there it is, forum life 🙂

Originally posted by Rank outsider
Just be thankful your name isn't 'Ghost of Norman, a Duke'.....

Yes, there would be no coming back from that.

Originally posted by divegeester
For the record (grins), I concede that googlefudge could have meant that OP, and probably did mean it, another way. My initial response in that thread was (as I remember thinking at the time) deliberately picking up on the superficial wording that was used. I wasn't trying to pick a fight just presenting his words back in a particular way that was lingui ...[text shortened]... ed meaning the syntax used, I was too pissed off. Silly isn't it, but there it is, forum life 🙂

For the record, I haven't the slightest clue what you are talking about.

Whatever this was, I have evidently completely forgotten about it, so it can't have been important.

“ I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant”

― Alan Greenspan


“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”

― Robert McCloskey

Originally posted by googlefudge
For the record, I haven't the slightest clue what you are talking about.

Whatever this was, I have evidently completely forgotten about it, so it can't have been important.

Twhitehead brought it up as an example. It is no more important than any other thread topic that gets discussed here.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I do think the question of plant rights is an interesting one and worthy of discussion, but I suspect the thread is too poisoned to pursue it further and I am sorry for that.

Just wondered if you were thinking about posting this. I would did it myself, but I am not sure what question you had in mind.

Originally posted by Rank outsider
Just wondered if you were thinking about posting this. I would did it myself, but I am not sure what question you had in mind.

I am considering it. Most threads I start take effort to start and then go nowhere because most people here don't want to discuss the really important stuff.