On Wed, 27 Mar 2002, Hoyt wrote: > > There is no 'second' the implied second is "First wait, before > > complaining".
> I try and cut struggling non-native English speakers some slack, but > Frédéric seems to have a pretty good command of the language. I haven't read > enough of yours to form an opinion. Are you saying that his use of the word "First" implies bad command of the language? I am trying to explain to you that when someone says "First" they don't mean there is a second. You say that this is a joke, but it's such a common occurence in english and french that I am surprised that you didn't get it. > original questioner wants to be prepared in his knowledge of the menu system > so that he could investigate possible solutions while Mandrake was > finalizing KDE3 menus. What if the problem actually turned out to be a bug Now what are you talking about? I think you both misunderstood the question (or maybe I still do), but we are well aware of how the menu script overwrites any pre-existing menus. This would go for crossover or any other app which uses kdelnk files. So, I am not sure why he said to wait until it's finished... I don't even think it is a KDE problem, but I don't have the original message in front of me. > > I do have a complaint, though, now that you've prompted me, Dave. People on > this list have become too sensitive to criticism of any kind. Read and > respond politely to the constructive criticism; ignore the rest. That would > eliminate a lot of the noise and aggravation. Let's get back to work. I think you are the only one being sensitive. I didn't complain about you complaing. I will complain (if you wish) about quoting a whole message just to say "And second?". It wasn't a joke -- you were serious. So, again, I'll say it for all non-native English speakers or people who don't get it. It's normal to answer questions with "First" even if there's no second. The second is implied as "stop asking", "just wait", or "that's silly" -- whichever you wish. Example: Question: "Cookers, it hurts when I bang my head on the wall." Answer: "First, stop doing it." The "First" here is usually used when the question is rather obvious, so for non-english speakers, I could see where the confusion is. The "First" here actually means that there isn't a second. I don't know why you're confused if you have spoken english all of your life, though. But even the French speakers and others "get" why you might use "First" to begin that sentence. So, all I meant to say was that it should have been as obvious to you as that there wasn't a second, as much as there wasn't a first. -- Sincerely, David Walluck <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
