Re: Should I stay or should I go?

John Palmer wrote:
> On 12 May 2008 07:26:35 -0700, aahz@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Aahz Maruch) wrote:
> 
>> In article <s976249uopa6atboia6c2vfpgidcsq6k2j@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>> John Palmer  <jpalmer1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>> On 8 May 2008 07:16:11 -0700, aahz@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 (Aahz Maruch) wrote:
>>>> In article
<bcca88d3-93cb-4e48-bc6c-9fcd77ea11bf@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
>>>> Lane  <absolutelane@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>>>> I only hope that the mood returns for lively discussion and
persuasion
>>>>> and the tendency to personal swipes starts again to diminish.
>>>> You're joking, right?  This is Usenet, after all.
>>>>
>>>>> I still don't know how my being called an asshole is a reason for
>>>>> marriage proposals. Oh wait, I forgot. It's because I don't get it.
>>>> Roughly, yeah.
>>>>
>>>> To put it another way, in case you're interested: the marriage
proposals
>>>> had less to do with calling you an asshole than with cheering on you
>>>> getting called on your ***ism.  Had a different forceful but pungent
>>>> wording been written without foul language, it would likely have
received
>>>> the same response.
>>> Possibly. But I would guess that hearing someone cheered on for use of
>>> a personal insult ends up feeling very different from having someone
>>> cheered on for a powerful argument. The latter seems like it's
>>> cheering on the argument, the former, like it's cheering the insult,
>>> and hence, approving it, and essentially re-sending it.
>> Except, of course, that I said nothing about avoiding personal insults.
> 
> I believe that "except" would best be used if I had said, suggested,
> implied, or allowed a valid inference, that you had said something
> about avoiding personal insults. 

Hmmm.  My reading was that it was an implication (an exclusive-or) you 
introduced to the conversation, which Aahz wanted to nip in the bud. 
And I agree with Aahz.

Aqua