Please! zueriheidi was showing the same phrase with a differnt meaning depending on what word was emphasized. That's why each line has a different word in bold type! She was trying to emphasize the point that when we write something, no one can hear the inflection in our voice.

Christina,
I think these rules of conduct deserve a prominent link, without showing our comments on this thread. Perhaps there is already one, and I need to have my eyes checked. If so, please guide me to it. Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by FrancisM:
Bill 2/mani
As a moderator you should not make such a comment, even as a so called joke. BTW you forgot to put at the end of your comment, to indicate your sentiment.

In Bill's defense, he was not a moderator at the time.

If Cristina intended for her moderators to be serious at all times and not joking, she's surely picked the wrong people.
I suspect that she picked us to keep us under control - after all, since I became a moderator I have not called anyone a thieving leech, which I vaguely remember doing in the past..

For what it's worth, I have to agree with Bill though. People can never be made to read anything they don't want to. There's no way of controlling whether or not they read the agreement. I know for sure that I have checked many a box where it states that I have read and agreed to some rules, without reading a single word of them. Still, people should read and agree to the rules. If you know how to solve the situation, please let us in on the secret.

quote:

Originally posted by FrancisM:
Christina,
I think these rules of conduct deserve a prominent link, without showing our comments on this thread. Perhaps there is already one, and I need to have my eyes checked. If so, please guide me to it. Thanks.

Scroll down. Beneath the links to main site - forums - board info & news etc, you find three links: Contact Us, the main site again, and Terms of Service. On the next line you find it again: By viewing, downloading, or otherwise using or accessing the Expat Talk Forums, you agree to be bound by our Terms of Service.

quote:

Originally posted by zueriheidi:
concurring with everything that's been said, I find this a good example of how easy it is to misinterpret written communication:

I didn't steal that.
I didn't steal that.
I didn't steal that.
I didn't steal that

I am sorry, but no matter which word is emphasized, the sentences all mean the same thing. So how can there be a problem of misinterpretation?

quote:

Originally posted by FrancisM:

quote:

Originally posted by zueriheidi:
concurring with everything that's been said, I find this a good example of how easy it is to misinterpret written communication:

I didn't steal that.
I didn't steal that.
I didn't steal that.
I didn't steal that

I am sorry, but no matter which word is emphasized, the sentences all mean the same thing. So how can there be a problem of misinterpretation?

I didn't steal that. (he did!)
I didn't steal that. (I really didn't! Honest!)
I didn't steal that. (I just borrowed it for a while)
I didn't steal that (but I did steal this other thing)

English is not my mother tongue but even I got what she meant.

On my site the Terms of Service are shown clearly and are on a 'locked' thread. Beneath that is the request that before posting people rad these terms. They also have Conditions that they must agree to to be able to Register as well.(Standard on most forums)
Of course they never read either... but then if things get out of hand we as Admin or Moderators can point out the Terms of Service and use them to sort out any trouble. I have an excellent 'Manual for Moderators' too, which gives us some pretty clear guidelines to enable us to be part of the community without becoming 'heavy'.

If people don't read the 'Terms' then they can't complain if they are 'ticked off' for infringements.
Carole B.

quote:

Originally posted by Annika:

quote:

Originally posted by FrancisM:

quote:

Originally posted by zueriheidi:
concurring with everything that's been said, I find this a good example of how easy it is to misinterpret written communication:

I didn't steal that.
I didn't steal that.
I didn't steal that.
I didn't steal that

I am sorry, but no matter which word is emphasized, the sentences all mean the same thing. So how can there be a problem of misinterpretation?

I didn't steal that. (he did!)
I didn't steal that. (I really didn't! Honest!)
I didn't steal that. (I just borrowed it for a while)
I didn't steal that (but I did steal this other thing)

English is not my mother tongue but even I got what she meant.

English is not my original language either, but you guys read a lot into these sentences. It must be a question of extra sensibility, or something like that.

For example, your interpretation, of the following, could also be wrong.
?[/QUOTE]I didn't steal that. (he did!)

Why could it not be "nobody did", or "she did"?

Actually, there is no punctuation of any kind, other than a full stop, in each case, thus eliminating pretty much all speculations.

Moreover, what if the item was simply lost, and nobody stole anything?

quote:

Originally posted by Annika:

quote:

Originally posted by FrancisM:
Christina,
I think these rules of conduct deserve a prominent link, without showing our comments on this thread. Perhaps there is already one, and I need to have my eyes checked. If so, please guide me to it. Thanks.

Scroll down. Beneath the links to main site - forums - board info & news etc, you find three links: Contact Us, the main site again, and Terms of Service. On the next line you find it again: By viewing, downloading, or otherwise using or accessing the Expat Talk Forums, you agree to be bound by our Terms of Service.

Thanks! My suggestion is still to give it a prominent place, and not where it is now.

well of course it could also be she did, or whatever, I was just giving you some examples to show the different meanings. It just shows how different we interpret the same sentence depending on which word we stress, and it shows how important it is that we try our very best to be clear when we write to avoid misunderstandings.

quote:

Originally posted by Annika:
well of course it could also be she did, or whatever, I was just giving you some examples to show the different meanings. It just shows how different we interpret the same sentence depending on which word we stress, and it shows how important it is that we try our very best to be clear when we write to avoid misunderstandings.

Annika, your examples are excellent. Unless we make liberal use of "bold," "underscore," or "italics" the meaning of a sentence may be open to interpretation; and four different readers can make different assumptions about what was meant. The emoticons help a bit, but by no means take the place of the nuances of the spoken language.

I hope I don't have to kneel, in the corner, on ground glass or rice if I make too many grammatical errors!!!!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Gil:
I hope I don't have to kneel, in the corner, on ground glass or rice if I make too many grammatical errors!!!!!!!!!

No ground glass--rice maybe.

The original posts on this thread were very sensible. Then, I couldn't stop laughing as I read further. I think our whole community should just accept that we are certifiably goofy.

Wait a second. I was always the goofy guy. Now we all are. I feel so very common now.

I just switched to being serious. Long sleeved white shirt, tie & jacket for the seafood stand visit this evening!!!!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Gil,

quote:

Originally posted by Gil:
I just switched to being serious. Long sleeved whithe shirt, tie & jacket for the seafood stand visit this evening!!!!!

Whoa, see what happens when they promote you.

read, understood, agreed .. now i can start posting here

WOW! A very very good reason not to post slanderous (libellous?) things on other message boards:

11 million in damages!

Cristina: you are a saint for keeping your cool!

anyone want to forward the link on to Carol and Angela

Or we could enjoy it ourselves and just ignore them!

quote:

Or we could enjoy it ourselves and just ignore them!

I agree, that should really drive them crazy and after a bit they will probably give up.

Ciao, board moderators! I have a question in re to deleting posts...yes, I know how it works , but is it acceptable to allow a poster to go back into a thread after several additional posters have responded and delete things as they choose? Is there a time frame in which you can go back and delete something that you've written? I ask because this can sometimes change the "appearance" of an exchange that has already taken place...kind of like re-writing history so to speak.
If there are no limitations to deleting what has been posted, then I have learned a valuable lesson - I need to utilize the "respond with quote" key more often. Thanks.