From: smith@ug.cs.dal.ca (Sean Smith)
Subject: Re: Halfwits.
Organization: Math, Stats & CS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 15:34:02 GMT

In article <1dphl6INNoi7@agate.berkeley.edu> curtis@cs.berkeley.edu (Curtis Yarvin) writes:
>In article <BxIrww.44J@cs.dal.ca> smith@ug.cs.dal.ca (Sean Smith) writes:
>>
>>>Well, I'm sure it is; it was either your English or your manners,
>>>and since I have some of the latter I gave you the benefit of
>>>the doubt.
>>
>>	*snigger*.  I'll take your word for it, Curtis.  I've seen precious
>>little of them so far on this newsgroup.
>
>We seem to have had a little bugger-up in our semantics here.

	Agreed.  I thought that the idea behind this newsgroup was to post
peeves.  Instead, I walk into a flamefest.  Ah well - I'm wearing my asbestos
underwear, so lay on, MacDuff.

>You are talking about offending people.  This is true; I
>offend people all the time.  In fact it is my stock in trade.
>A gentleman, as they say, never offends anyone unintentionally.

	And, might I say, you must be quite good at it because your posts have
probably managed to offend your country's largest trading partner (yep, it
isn't Japan - it's Snow Ape Central).

>I am talking about wasting peoples' time and money.  To me this
>falls under the heading of basic manners.  In the United States
>of America, which is of course the only place on earth where
>decent civilization still reigns untarnished, we learn basic
>manners by the age of three - uniformly.  

	SAY WHAT????  Most people I've talked to, including Canadians, 
Europeans, and others, say that as a group Americans are, without a doubt, the
most ignorant people on the face of the earth.  When Americans learn that the
rest of the world only likes them for their money and (minimal) culture,  maybe
they'll become more polite.  Until then, whenever I run into a tourist asking
silly questions down here in Halifax like "Is that where the Bluenose is
buried?" when referring to a pair of signal masts on Citadel Hill, I would be
willing to bet that he/she/it is an American.

	Then again, most Americans that I have run into 1 on 1 are great when
they take the time to *learn* about the area.  But these are few and far
between.

Peeve:  Obnoxious Americans.

>And even we're slipping.  Since we banned cattle prods in the
>schools it just hasn't been the same.

	Looks like you might have been zapped once too many times yourself.
Oh, now I get it - Americans are trained to be polite by the time they're 3,
and then their brains get fried through electricity.  Now it all makes sense.

>>As for my manners, well, obnoxious yanks who think that the Ewe
>>Ess of Eh is the only real country in North America and that
>>all people north of 49 are "snow apes" tend to upset me a
>>little.
>
>Why do you think we say it?

	To make feeble attempts at jokes at the expense of people who live in
a country which you probably haven't visited.  Toronto doesn't count - they want
to be New York so bad it isn't funny.

>So we can get a rise out of you, of course.  Because we're
>Americans, and we can safely afford to get a rise out of anyone.

	Funny what having the largest armed forces in the world can do for you.
I almost felt sad for the US when Japan started whipping their collective
rear-ends with tactics developed in the US.  Now I'm not so sure.

>Especially the Canadians, whose idea of armored cavalry is
>probably cricket players riding polar bears.

	That shows how much you know about Canada.  Those paddle-like things
are hockey sticks.  I've never seen a cricket match here.  But hey, at least we
have real royalty (for now) and don't have to manufacture them.

>>>You appear to have come upon this group at something of a low
>>>point, and thus concluded that it is yet another of the myriad
>>>alt. or soc. "chat groups" - maybe something like soc.college,
>>>with a vaguely curmudgeonly twist.
>>
>>	Actually, no.  I've been "lurking" around here for a
>>while, and finally decided to post.  Theory #1 shot down.
>
>So much for the benefit of the doubt.
>
>Now that the facts have been pretty clearly established,
>let's review them:
>
>(1).  You read this group, "off and on," for the past five years.
>
>(2).  During this time you miraculously fail to acquire a clue.

	I've acquired several.  You, on the other hand, seems to have lost
yours.

>(3).  A couple days ago, something finally manages to get your goat,
>and you begin to post.
>
>(4).  In twenty-four hours you churn out a record amount of
>useless drool.

	I prefer "drivel", somwehat akin to most of your postings about
Canada.  Been spending too much time in the sun?

>And then - of all the gall - you come out with this:
>
>>	I'm sorry to have barged in on your upper crust snob club with the 
>>subtlety of a Mack truck but then again, I'm not an elitist like you are.
>
>Damn straight I'm an elitist!  I read this here group because it
>contains a most uncommon quantity of good shit.  Top-notch shit.
>Elite shit.  And that means I get pissed off when some bluenosed
>ice-lemur wanders in and starts spitting out the usual kind of
>bullshit.

	Well, you got the bluenose part right (Nova Scotians are sometimes
called bluenosers after the racing schooner Bluenose).  "Ice-lemur"?  My,
aren't we getting original, sun baked bunny roadkill.

>Look, I don't care who you are.  I don't care what you are.  I
[Lots of drivel deleted for brevity's sake]
>Shit, you could be a lawyer for all I know.

	Close - I'm a law student.  But up here, law students are required to
be more intelligent than, oh, 3/4 of the population of the US.  But I digress.

>I don't give a fuck.  All I care is what you post, and at the
>moment you're not measuring up.  Burn a little hotter or get
>out of the stove.

	By whose standards?  Yours?  Well, in that case, I'm proud to post
because your standards are obviously out in left field somewhere.  I've spent
most of my life nailing elitists to the wall (preferably with large bore semi-
automatic weapons) and I'm not about to stop now.

	You know, Curtis, for a representative of "Home of the free, Land of
Opportunity where everyone should be treated equal", you are simply a great
example as to why Americans are terrorist targets.  Hell, at least the Russians
had balls.  Yours seem to me MIA somewhere.

	Sean

-- 
Sean Smith - Dalhousie University  "I'm not paid to think - that's management." 
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada                    Don Cherry for Prime Minister in
01SSMITH@AC.DAL.CA or smith@ug.cs.dal.ca	'93 in Canada!
Disclaimer:  These ideas are mine...ALL MINE!!  'Cause noone else'd want 'em.
Newsgroups: alt.peeves