I don't know if you'll see this, as you seem to have gone quiet again. I was away for a long time and couldn't reply when this first came in. Now, it seems a bit irrelevant, as it is so much later, but I feel I need to say this anyway.xng wrote:It seems that there are a lot of arrogant and rude people in this forum bad-mouthing me during my long stay away from this forum ? Even when what I am trying to do is educate the people on the origins of the so-called 'hokkien' words but NOBODY here thanked me ?
If one person here thinks you're rude, arrogant and abrasive, then sure, it might be that person's thin skin. But if a large number of people think that, then perhaps you should take the time and energy to wonder if they might have a point.
I have never had an issue with the points you tried to make. Time after time, I have conceded where I thought you had valid points. I have amply demonstrated that I understand what you are saying, even if I don't agree with you. The two things I find objectionable in your posting style are: 1) You never show that you have ever understood a point of view which differs from your own. If you don't agree with a point of view (as Mark does not, with a lot of mine), that's fine. All I expect is that the point of view be understood. 2) You never concede that you are wrong. I, Ah-bin, and others have picked you up on particular statements you make, some of them totally inaccurate / completely wrong, said with your usual 100% confidence. When they are pointed out to you, you just move on to the next topic. If you want respect for the points which you make which are correct, you should give respect for the points of others which are correct.
So, to re-iterate, I've never had an issue with the points you tried to make. It's your style of posting which irritates and alienates me completely. This is foolish on your part, because I would imagine that you'd like people to adopt your point of view. Alienating them by being as abrasive as you are is obviously not going to achieve that goal.
It's quite amusing to see you describe the other people here as "arrogant and rude". When we discuss among ourselves, none of us have a perception of the others as being "arrogant and rude" - quite the contrary, this Forum is one of the most polite, friendly, and respectful ones that I know of. This despite the fact that some of our opinions are radically different / in opposition to many others - e.g. some people hating vs liking simplified characters; some people liking vs hating borrowed words; whether to write Hokkien in characters only vs roman letters only vs a mix; the nature of Chinese history; the nature of the Hokkien identity; what is a dialect vs a language; is Teociu actually a form of Hokkien; etc. There are probably as many radically differing opinions as regular participants here, but we all treat each other politely and with respect. The *only* arrogant and rude person I see on this Forum - I'm sorry to say - is you.
Finally, I would like you to know that at one stage you came across as pretty much lacking any credibility. This was when you said (I paraphrase) "I don't know Douglas" or "What's Douglas?". Douglas is the lexicographer who wrote the Amoy-English dictionary in the late 19th century - widely acknowledged as a *masterpiece* of lexicography. Even on a Chinese-only forum on Hokkien, I think someone who claimed to know "quite a bit about Hokkien" would be expected to know what that dictionary was (even if he/she didn't know the dictionary in detail). For an English-language forum on Hokkien, this was ignorance beyond belief. For me, you lack credibility most of the time, but this was just such a shining example that I feel you ought to be told.
I apogize to the others for raking all this up again. It's probably bad karma, but if someone doesn't tell you this, how is your karma ever going to change?