bad behaviour and manipulation
David B. Held
dheld at codelogicconsulting.com
Sat Mar 31 21:17:42 PDT 2007
John Reimer wrote:
> [...]
> Why do I persist?
Why give peace a chance when fighting is so much more fun? ;)
Now, allow me to say a thing or two. I always thought it interesting
that Andrei was able to toss Latin phrases into his CUJ columns myself.
I assumed he had a phrasebook handy or just took Latin in school or
something; but the answer is much more mundane than that. I hope he
will not be too upset for spoiling his "secret", but the fact of the
matter is that Romanian is almost indistinguishably close to Latin,
which is to say, for all intents and purposes, Latin is Andrei's first
language. So, although it is a fortunate coincidence for him that a
language so near his native tongue is considered "learned", in reality,
dropping Latin phrases is no different from a Spanish speaker using
Spanish in a signature (and I've seen plenty that do).
This is the danger of assuming you know the person you are talking
about. Often times, you don't. This is what I mean by "differing
backgrounds breed misunderstanding." They really do. Guess what?
English is not Andrei's first language! It is a testament to his
linguistic skills that he speaks it so fluently most people would never
have guessed it to be so. But every once in a while, he is at a loss
for the proper English word to express his thought. It is a rare event,
but a subtle reminder that he is a man with two brains...one speaking
Latin, and another speaking English. But his Latin brain is the one
informing his English brain, and not the other way 'round (like for most
of the rest of us who might be lucky enough to speak Latin).
Yes, there have been tensions and recriminations on all sides here, but
let's put things in perspective...it *is* possible for there to be
innocent misunderstandings based on subtleties of meaning. And as
someone who knows Andrei personally, I will testify that despite his
passion for excellence, he is not out to steamroll anyone who gets in
the way. And on the very rare occasion that he picks the wrong side, he
will admit he made a mistake and change his mind. You simply haven't
witnessed it because statistically speaking, you haven't seen him in
action long enough for it to happen.
Guess what? Do you think Andrei hates Tango? No, he doesn't. Does he
think it could improve? Yes, in the way that every library ever written
could improve, including Loki. And when I offered to work on a piece of
Loki and told him: "Look here, this is busted", did he say: "No!
You're absolutely wrong! Loki is PERFECT!!! Handed down to me by God
Himself on the top of Mount Sinai!"?? No, he didn't. He said: "Oh,
you're right. Let's fix this." And we did. Not only that, but he
immortalized the defect in his very own CUJ column. Have you ever
published an entire article on a mistake in one of your libraries?
Needless to say, Andrei has no problem with admitting he's wrong. It
just happens to be a rare event.
I think the personalities involved here are all too pround and wound up
to apologize, even though the only injury here was pride. So if you, or
anyone, are waiting for an apology from anybody, don't hold your breath.
It's just too unlikely to happen. That is why I feel it is best to
have said your piece and move on. If you really want to see a schism in
the entire D community, go ahead and give this horse a few more
clubbings. It's too dead to notice. But then take responsibility for
the consequences. That is all.
Dave
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