Re: Sloppy - a return to a trifle.

Arne H. Wilstrup wrote:
"Skitt" skrev:

Well, this might be difficult for you to understand AmE,
though.

Huh? You're right -- it is difficult to understand your
sentence. I think there are two words too many in it.

Well, what I did was only to copypaste the answer from the

cut and paste

American professor, so I would be glad if you would tell me
exactly what words were the superfluous ones.

I believe we are not talking about the same thing. I was talking about your sentence -- the one at the top of this posting. The penultimate word in it does not work with the "this" near the beginning of the sentence, and the "though" in this case is unnecessary.

The sentence was written by a university lecturer, a
native AmE speaker, so if you would have to ask him what he
means with this, I am afraid that you have to learn a
little more English.

I'm afraid that your university lecturer has no
understanding of cars. Just being a lecturer at a
university does not make him an expert on terms used in the
automotive field. I have come to believe that those who
teach English in foreign lands are not necessarily the cream
of the crop. I may owe an apology any of those present in
this group, though.

I don't know whether he is an expert of cars, but this is not
the issue here.

Yes, knowledge of cars is the issue here. What he is communicating is nonsense to a mechanic. I wrote that in a previous message, but you, apparently, did not understand it.

It is the language and the use of the language
he has talked about of which he is an expert. You really
should listen to a native speaker.

A native speaker is perfectly able to speak nonsense about things he knows little about, but he will probably do it grammatically, as your lecturer has done. I had no objections to the grammar of his sentence.

Isn't it so that native
speakers know how a sentence is: correct or incorrect?

Sure, most of the time anyway, but that is not what I was talking about. I was talking about clearly communicating an automotive fault. The expression "a sloppy gearbox" is not something that does the job.

By the way, you sentence (the one just above) is weird -- something only a non-native English speaker might write. The construction of it is unnatural, as are the words chosen.

I'd suggest "Wouldn't native speakers know whether a sentence is correct or not?"

I note that you, again, are acting in a slighting and
dismissive manner towards a guy (me) who has over sixty
years of AmE experience. Can't you ever learn to be nice.

<snip sad story, as I have no violin to play for you>

It seems to me that I am not entitled to have any opinion
about the language as I am not a native speaker. I have only
to listen to the native speakers and swallow anything, knowing
that if I don't do that, I will be victimized and defamed, and
bullied etc.

Not at all. It is only your stubborn insistence of being right, when you clearly are wrong, that is annoying. Believe me, no one here is trying to lead you astray, but you are exhibiting a certain lack of understanding of what is being explained to you.

So nice? Yes I am always nice and polite, but when I am called
a fool, a dilletante, am told lies about, then it can be a

dilettante

tiny wee difficult to keep a stiff upperlip, I am afraid. I
^
bit upper lip

don't have had the appropriate training to do so, I am afraid.

Well, I have never, until this post, said anything disparaging to you, but you indicated that I have to learn "a little more English". Even though that may be true for everybody, even your exalted lecturer, the way you expressed it is somewhat insulting to someone who has always been at the top of his English classes (here in the USA, not Latvia or Germany), and who has used the English language almost exclusively for over 60 years -- longer than most of the native English speakers you have encountered, including your lecturer, I'd bet.

By this time, I have decided that trying to advise you is senseless, and you really are an obstinate fool who is not very quick at learning. If you would research my general mode of communication in this group, you'd find that I am usually of a friendly and considerate sort, but your responses in AUE have made me say things I normally wouldn't.

You deserve it, though. (How many have told you that, I wonder.)
--
Skitt (AmE)

.

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