I'm not much of a writer, but if I spot that I'm using the same word twice within two sentences of each other I'll try to find a suitable alternative.
The reason for that is simple, this is not my first language and I find that if I'm not very careful I get caught up in my somewhat limited vocabulary. In dutch that problem would normally not hit me.
If you write a piece like this and you have a point to make then it is a real pity that your choice of words gets in the way of getting the point across.
There was this article a little while ago about 'shit my dad says', and you commented there that you thought it was excellent stuff. But it is the diametrical opposite of the way you write, he makes his point in one sentence, which may be coarse and rough around the edges, he may even use a swear word (or two), but it does not get in the way of the delivery.
I swear I tried to read your piece, but after reading roughly a screenfull I simply gave up.
That can't have been your intention (or maybe it was).
The criticism here is too harsh I think, you probably have a valid point to make but if it got lost than that's a waste.
Fair enough. I'm not enough of a prick to think that my opinion overrides everybody else's. I don't think I was going to write another super-swear piece, but now I certainly won't.
Oh, well. It's one piece. I can handle people not liking it.
(As an aside: I never suspected English wasn't your first language! That comes as a bit of a shock.)
I'm still kind of interested in what it was you were trying to say though, maybe I'll re-try later on :)
> (As an aside: I never suspected English wasn't your first language! That comes as a bit of a shock.)
Why would that shock you ? It's true and there isn't a day that I don't learn something new about English. I also am quite dependent on my spell checker to keep me on the straight and narrow. And I can't seem to decide on English or American spelling, that's quite messy.
> Why would that shock you ? It's true and there isn't a day that I don't learn something new about English. I also am quite dependent on my spell checker to keep me on the straight and narrow. And I can't seem to decide on English or American spelling, that's quite messy.
Mainly because I've been having conversations with you for a year, and you always state yourself so eloquently.
That's funny, I'm actually really frustrated by the inability to edit HN comments after a set time because I usually spot my errors only after that time has passed.
Thanks for the compliment though :), but if you look a little harder I'm sure you'll find plenty of mistakes.
The reason for that is simple, this is not my first language and I find that if I'm not very careful I get caught up in my somewhat limited vocabulary. In dutch that problem would normally not hit me.
If you write a piece like this and you have a point to make then it is a real pity that your choice of words gets in the way of getting the point across.
There was this article a little while ago about 'shit my dad says', and you commented there that you thought it was excellent stuff. But it is the diametrical opposite of the way you write, he makes his point in one sentence, which may be coarse and rough around the edges, he may even use a swear word (or two), but it does not get in the way of the delivery.
I swear I tried to read your piece, but after reading roughly a screenfull I simply gave up.
That can't have been your intention (or maybe it was).
The criticism here is too harsh I think, you probably have a valid point to make but if it got lost than that's a waste.