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List:       gentoo-dev
Subject:    [gentoo-dev]  Re: [half-PROCTORS] Re: Bye Gentoo!
From:       Duncan <1i5t5.duncan () cox ! net>
Date:       2007-05-31 18:28:14
Message-ID: pan.2007.05.31.18.28.14 () cox ! net
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Wernfried Haas <amne@gentoo.org> posted
20070531152120.GC12074@superlupo.rechner, excerpted below, on  Thu, 31 May
2007 17:21:20 +0200:

> Saying "one of the few remaining sane" people is a generally
> negative statement that is judgemental towards the whole community,
> which is what the the CoC/proctors are supposed to proactively
> discourage.

Please don't take this wrong, but I'm guessing you aren't a native 
English speaker and thus didn't realize the common turn of phrase.  
Alluding to "this crazy world" or "this insane world" is a common way in 
English of expressing empathy with the one you are replying to.  The 
immediate corollary then is that sane people would recognize the insanity 
of it all, too bad there's so few of those left now days.

It's a turn of phrase.  It doesn't have to make exact literal sense, but 
hopefully that helps.

Rewording Ciaranm's reply, therefore, it can be read roughly as:

"It's a crazy world we live in that you find it necessary to leave, but 
sometimes life just doesn't make sense, and you /do/ have to get a new 
perspective on things, a change of scene, in ordered just to maintain 
your sanity."  The reference to a "few" then would be to the (seemingly) 
few still around, who've had enough experience to recognize how crazy it 
can get, at times, and they are contrasted against the insanity of the 
system that so many have left, that is, against the system itself, not 
against the other devs, who are in fact implied to be on their way toward 
the same "seen it all and yes, it can be insane, sometimes" experience.

Again, I recognize that's exactly the literal meaning of the words when 
strung together, but that's because the thought is now more than the sum 
of its parts, having accumulated cultural meaning over the passage of 
time.

Hopefully, that explains a bit why so many native English speakers seem 
shocked at the offense you took.  Next time, perhaps the reference will 
make better sense. =8^)

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman

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