Not very nice about his spelling are they?

[Le Sanglier]

By your use of the term ' vaguely humiliating'and pointing out that the misunderstanding is 'sometimes on purpose' and ,by inference, both unnecessary and deliberately offensive, you are obviously displeased by the behaviour of the people mocking you and so you answer my question. Out of interest, why is it that your spoken French is adequate but your written is 'bad'? As to being 'thats life,, just because it is commonplace to bully on-line for any reason doesn't make it any more palatable or acceptable to me.

 

First point about not enjoying the deliberate misunderstanding

I am in their country, it is up to me to be fluent enough for every situation,

I can see why they take the mickey, but I cannot accuse them of "hate crime" or bullying that would be frankly insane.

Second point; Coming out here as an adult means that you pick it up mostly by ear. Without the benefit of years in a French school the written grammer side tends to lose importance, the imperative of earning a living takes precedence. Some people have done it I am sure. they have more determination or a better brain than me.

Third point; I strongly expect the guy selling the chipper cares more about selling it than having his English corrected. I know in his situation if I was trying to sell it in France, and I had received this sort of "bullying" as you call it I would not have lost a moments sleep over it.

Edited September 27, 2011 by Le Sanglier
spelling

[felixthelogchopper]

First point about not enjoying the deliberate misunderstanding

I am in their country, it is up to me to be fluent enough for every situation,

I can see why they take the mickey, but I cannot accuse them of "hate crime" or bullying that would be frankly insane.

Second point; Coming out here as an adult means that you pick it up mostly by ear. Without the benefit of years in a French school the written grammer side tends to lose importance, the imperative of earning a living takes precedence. Some people have done it I am sure. they have more determination or a better brain than me.

Third point; I strongly expect the guy selling the chipper cares more about selling it than having his English corrected. I know in his situation if I was trying to sell it in France, and I had received this sort of "bullying" as you call it I would not have lost a moments sleep over it.

 

Firstly, who mentioned 'hate crime'? That is something entirely different and completely inappropriate to compare to such petty, childish bitchiness as displayed in the Ebay correspondence.

Secondly, did you go to France on the spur of the moment or was it something you planned for some time, my point being did you prepare for your move or did you expect to get by without written French? As to your 'more determination or a better brain than me', if you have moved to a foreign country and made a go of it then you are hardly likely to be unintelligent, book learned or otherwise.

Thirdly, we agree on one point;the guy selling the chipper is interested in just that, not an English lesson. Even if hypothetically he were interested in improving his English, the childish 'oh, look at me everybody, I know how to read and write properly and so I am a much better person than the seller' sniping from the question askers will be of no help.

 

My point is that, fine, the seller has very poor language skills for whatever reason but I would guess he isn't writing that way to give everybody a laugh so why do people feel it is fine to be so spiteful as to post the way they do? Does it compensate for something missing in their lives? Do people who were bullied as children feel the need to validate themselves by making other people as unhappy as they felt? I was bullied as a kid too for being fat but I don't think I would feel better if I made some other poor sod's life miserable. The whole gist of my argument is that too many people are being for the sake of being and I think they are pathetic excuses for human beings.

[geoff]

Nothing wrong with a bit of light hearted banter in my opinion,but it is wrong in any books if the person on the recieving end makes it clear they dont like it,or are offended,and continue to get it thrown at them,(we all have bad days or are sensitive about certain things),anyone who doesnt understand that has no valid opinion in my books,I agree with Felixthechopper on this one.

[Le Sanglier]

Firstly, who mentioned 'hate crime'? That is something entirely different and completely inappropriate to compare to such petty, childish bitchiness as displayed in the Ebay correspondence.

Secondly, did you go to France on the spur of the moment or was it something you planned for some time, my point being did you prepare for your move or did you expect to get by without written French? As to your 'more determination or a better brain than me', if you have moved to a foreign country and made a go of it then you are hardly likely to be unintelligent, book learned or otherwise.

Thirdly, we agree on one point;the guy selling the chipper is interested in just that, not an English lesson. Even if hypothetically he were interested in improving his English, the childish 'oh, look at me everybody, I know how to read and write properly and so I am a much better person than the seller' sniping from the question askers will be of no help.

 

My point is that, fine, the seller has very poor language skills for whatever reason but I would guess he isn't writing that way to give everybody a laugh so why do people feel it is fine to be so spiteful as to post the way they do? Does it compensate for something missing in their lives? Do people who were bullied as children feel the need to validate themselves by making other people as unhappy as they felt? I was bullied as a kid too for being fat but I don't think I would feel better if I made some other poor sod's life miserable. The whole gist of my argument is that too many people are being for the sake of being and I think they are pathetic excuses for human beings.

 

Point taken, to finish, I think that if I pursued someone and consistently belittled their writing that would be bordering on bullying (bored of writing that word) However one off mocking mickey takes are something considerably less.

Better go and earn some euros now while they still exist!

[felixthelogchopper]

Likewise with Sterling

[Mortimer Firewood]

Firstly, who mentioned 'hate crime'? That is something entirely different and completely inappropriate to compare to such petty, childish bitchiness as displayed in the Ebay correspondence.

Secondly, did you go to France on the spur of the moment or was it something you planned for some time, my point being did you prepare for your move or did you expect to get by without written French? As to your 'more determination or a better brain than me', if you have moved to a foreign country and made a go of it then you are hardly likely to be unintelligent, book learned or otherwise.

Thirdly, we agree on one point;the guy selling the chipper is interested in just that, not an English lesson. Even if hypothetically he were interested in improving his English, the childish 'oh, look at me everybody, I know how to read and write properly and so I am a much better person than the seller' sniping from the question askers will be of no help.

 

My point is that, fine, the seller has very poor language skills for whatever reason but I would guess he isn't writing that way to give everybody a laugh so why do people feel it is fine to be so spiteful as to post the way they do? Does it compensate for something missing in their lives? Do people who were bullied as children feel the need to validate themselves by making other people as unhappy as they felt? I was bullied as a kid too for being fat but I don't think I would feel better if I made some other poor sod's life miserable. The whole gist of my argument is that too many people are being for the sake of being and I think they are pathetic excuses for human beings.

 

Fair play you got your point across a lot better than what i could of i agree 100% with all your comments. Unfortunately my dyslexia stops me from posting very much as i am ashamed of my poor grammar and crap spelling and i cant get across what i want to say or run the risk of the post been misunderstood . Ive allways had the mikey taken out of me for it by my mates it does not bother me just hate seeing it been done to others.

[geoff]

Fair play you got your point across a lot better than what i could of i agree 100% with all your comments. Unfortunately my dyslexia stops me from posting very much as i am ashamed of my poor grammar and crap spelling and i cant get across what i want to say or run the risk of the post been misunderstood . Ive allways had the mikey taken out of me for it by my mates it does not bother me just hate seeing it been done to others.

 

I would not be ashamed by it mate,half of us on here are dyslexic,me included,I had a hell of a time at boarding school from the age of 9 till I got thrown out at 16,had nowhere to go & ended up in a rough caravan on any place I could get a stop.

A lot of people are held back from their true potential by it,doesnt make them a bad person,or mean they deserve ridicule,Id rather be dyslexic than an ignorant 'bully' type any day.

[Pat Ferrett]

My spelling has improved since I started posting on forums

I find spell check helps by picking out the mistakes but I've never been able to find it on the forum posting format

[skyhuck]

I'm not sure the guy selling the chipper even knows they are taking the mick, he may just think their spelling is even worse than his.

 

The reason I say this is because when you sell on ebay you decide if you want the questions you receive to be displayed on the listing, the fact that he has makes me think he has not taken it as an attack.

 

It could even be that the questions are genuine and those asking are just very poor at spelling.

 

My spelling is terrible and I spell check every post I make.

 

I had forgotten the humiliation of my poor literacy, with advent of the PC my life is much easier, but the other day I was doing new city and guilds unit and part of it was written, I felt very embarrassed by my written efforts.

[MattyF]

I have spent pretty much the first 16 years of my life being called an idiot because of dyslexia and nothing gets my back up more than been called an idiot or people taking the Mick because they feel supperior because there spelling and grammars great.... Infact I could say I don't care but to be honest it probably pushes me further at times just to prove a point Right or wrong ...good or bad!!!