General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Should DU be an English Only site? [View all]TorchTheWitch
(11,065 posts)You can pretend all you like that this is something about "Americanism" or xenophobia. I already told you what it was. And it makes no difference if you were using some secret numerical code or whispering in peoples' ears. It's just rude to post in public forums in any way that you know the vast majority of posters can't read.
Again, tell me WHY you find it necessary to post anything in the forums that you know can not be understood by anyone but a select few when the whole point to posting anything in any of the forums is that you have something to say that you WANT understood by most people.
Ark had to guts to admit that he sometimes posted in Japanese because he was INTENDING for those posts to be private and not understood by the vast majority of posters here thereby using the public forums as private email which is undoubtedly RUDE. So, what's your reasoning?
And yes, OF COURSE I would find it rude if anyone else posted in any other language or code that the vast majority couldn't understand. DU has a private email service for private conversations, and having private conversations in public is FUCKING RUDE.
If this were a discussion board used by the vast majority of Japanese speakers I would expect that the people posting would RESPECT that and use Japanese when posting so that the vast majority of the users could understand what's being said.
What we're talking about here is intentional rudeness. I'd love to be bilingual or even better multi-lingual. One of my brothers is a language prodigy, and as of over two decades ago knew 17 languages including sign language (and by now who knows how many he's added to the list), and frankly I'm envious of his gift. I'm even more envious that he constantly travels the world experiencing and seeing things I never will, and could listen to him talk about all the places he's been and the things he's seen and done there all day. He just got back from another trip to Ireland 3 days ago and I've already grilled him about everything about his trip fascinated by all he experienced and wishing I could have also.
This isn't about xenophobia or idiots that believe people should only speak English. It's about intentionally being rude by posting in WHATEVER way on a public message board knowing that the vast majority of users can't understand what is said whether it's in a foreign language, numerical code, audio code blips and bleeps or ANY other way that the vast majority can't understand it. It's no different than being in a group of people while whispering in someone's ear so that no one but that selected person knows what is being said. Everyone knows that in that situation the polite thing to do is remove yourself from the group and have the private conversation with the other person in PRIVATE because doing it in public is offensive and rude.