Jim wrote:
>reads stupid or sounds because that is the problem. I keep the sound of on
>my monitor. I do not really care for the sound effects. Back to the subject
>If said the right way it could be very charming, enchanting, derogatory, or
>condescending. How did you take?
Funny how the same word can be taken two different ways, isn't it? As you can probably tell, I was a bit irked by Richard's use of the word. My first reaction was to take it as being condescending and derogatory, because in my mind it hinted at someone telling a little girl something to burst her bubble, plus it occurred to me that he had not ever used such a 'term of endearment' when replying to Bill Roh, or anyone else on this list.
The best way for me to describe it is to have you imagine that feeling which all third-shift waitresses have encountered at one time or another; when some disrespectful intoxicated redneck (I'm drawing on my own personal experience here, not insulting Richard, btw) sneers at you and orders, "Get me some sugar, sugar" in a very patronizing and stomach-gurgling way. That's the closest feeling.
And just the opposite, was my reaction when Tim Rhodes wrote, "Z-cookie-uska wrote" was to giggle and think, "hahaha, how cute and funny." We just have to trust that our words are read in the right tone when we say them, but this can lead to difficulties, and mistakes on my/everyone's part. Even recently, you can see that I have a tendency to make mildly sarcastic remarks in which I say the opposite of what I actually mean to prove a point, but am sometimes taken literally.
>And it was not nostalgia that I felt just a interest in how the term was
>meant to be used. And to be part of a time period is not the prerequisite to
>having a affection for the spoken word.
I didn't mean that bit about nostalgia litterally, but more sarcastically. You're right about needing some add-on voice inflections in email.
~kjs