I started using 'one' on the forum because when I used 'you', people starting taking it personally.

"You often find..." - "No I don't!"

"One often finds..."

Using it as a pseudo first-person pronoun is an irritating affectation, I agree, but in the context "one is not required..." it makes good sense to use it. I actually think it's underused in English, especially when you compare (one compares ?) it with French or German, and I get more annoyed by the use of "you" to mean people on general, where "one" would be the more precise and correct form to use.

Yeah, non-native speakers use it much more often because this is what they learn in school...

But of course, many learn and then ignore all the grammar that our English language teachers forced upon us. lol

That's accurate but you as second person generic personal pronoun is still valid. One has much more of a superior tone... and tends to put the collective back up. You is much more inclusive. If folk cannot work out from the context whether it is "you" personal or "you" generic then there's a delivery or comprehension issue. Often.

As for being underused... it comes across as haughty divisive and classist which is likely why it has (thankfully) fallen out of common use. Not that it was ever truly "common".

I used to have to get head office letters edited to remove 'one' and replace it woth 'you' before they were distributed to staff, because of the Crystal Mark standards we had adopted. I think my irk stems from that because it feels like it's creeping back in when we spent years trying to remove it specifically because it "put the collective back up".

Apologies if my use of English, I am American after all, or is that Russian? It's hard to keep up.

Apologies too if in your view I have gotten extremely unpleasant, I certainly haven't intended to be. I've attempted as best as possible to stick to the points of discussion. I've certainly avoided making jibes and personal insults, which cannot be said of some other members on this forum.

I've always said that I'm happy to further backup any of my "claims", however one has to draw the line somewhere. For a simple question like "is there a 15,000 pages of evidence that has been submitted to EHRC in relation to claims of antisemitism in the Labour Party?" can be answered easily by a google search. If nothing can be found, then is the time to ask for evidence. The default response shouldn't be "PROVE IT!".

I dislike this approach and resist it for two reasons: firstly, the fine detail isn't normally that important to the argument being made. In this case would it have changed the argument if it was 14999 pages? Or 16452 pages? Or even 520 pages? Secondly and more importantly, it detracts from the argument as people get bogged down in trying to prove something that is irrelevant and pointless. The only benefit it gives is to those who feel the need to be proven right. This is the biggest obstacle to online debate.

This is an internet forum so everybody is entitled to post their opinion.

The problem comes when people post their opinions in such a form that it appears they are quoting facts.
In this case, it is useful when people quote the source of their posts.

Proposing that people who read your posts should do google searches to check their content could be interpreted as either lazy or arrogant. Of course, that is just my opinion so you are free to ignore me.

In post 24794 you described me as a fanatic. I am happy to read you have "certainly" avoided making jibes and personal insults; you need to improve your avoidance process.

If you are to present something as truth, you must first have integrity. In all my life, I have never met a British born and educated person who used the word 'gotten'. It was drummed into us at school that 'gotten' was a biblical / old English form that was only still in common usage in America. A Brit would use been or become in that context.

You use 'been' or 'become' as the past-participle of 'get'?

I use them as the past-particples of 'be' and 'become', respectively.

The mind boggles.

Tom

P.S. Further research shows that Brits actually use 'got' as the past participle (as well as the past tense), and not 'been' or 'become'.

This makes me realize that I can never become Swiss: my German is not 100% correct and when someone would ask me about cultural differences between Appenzell, Muotatal and Oberwallis, I wouldn't know the answer.

Excellent post, marton. Nothing wrong with posting opinions as long as one is doing that following some common sense rules. Posting opinions as facts, and most of the time not even personal opinions but who knows whose opinions, is not only bad netiquette but might be even qualify for a judiciary course of action.

Internet is a great tool, but it started to resemble a digital dystopia (as its creator is warning us too). "Truths" and "facts" are made up as we go. Logical fallacies that just get re-quoted and rolled down over and over in the digital spheres till they become accepted and "knowledge" are rarely called out for what they really are. "Facts" get rarely checked out.

There's also this hypocrisy that you can post everything because of freedom of speech. Those who are up in their arms and screaming freedom of speech are the first ones to cry "mobbing" and "bullying" too. Guess what: you can't have it only one way.

Those who insist that we should all shut up and put up with everything are also the ones who are making a mockery of internet or any online social platform.

Became.


Yeah it's got, but never "gotten" as used in American English. Been or became are the correct choices instead in the context quoted by Blueangel.

US English: gotten used to...
Standard UK English: become/became use/d to.

I know, Tom, that gotten can be used in various other constructions too.

Of course you can become Swiss - just don't troll Swiss political forums and expect the locals not to spot the discrepancies when you act like you're a fully-fledged Eidgenossen type when you're clearly not.

Indeed. Internet and facts.

You are welcome to check the Wikipedia references I use to support the facts I give. But before checking, please just give me a few minutes to finish editing the quoted pages using one of a number of my aliases which have been groomed for that purpose.

It's funny. If he wanted to, "Tony Clifton" could clear this up with a single paragraph:

"I'm not going to tell you exactly where I'm from, but I spent most of my youth in the Midlands, drinking ale beer and hanging out with my pals. I studied in the south west, working evenings bagging groceries at Tesco, before getting a job London. I've been in Switzerland for a little less than a decade and most of my coworkers are Americans, which probably explains my mixed up English. My favorite TV shows are Keeping Up Appearances and Benny Hill. The first season was the best! I used to play cricket - I was a pretty mean pitcher! - but I'm a bit old for that now. "

See? Plenty of cultural references to prove your authenticity, and we can all start taking you seriously.

Your turn!

Yes but I thought that you were a Yank

I'm afraid I do not wish to tell you exactly from where one is. We had an American nanny where I may have picked up my mannerisms. I enjoy crumpets and fish n chips wrapped in newspaper with lots of vinegar and salt. I love Fawlty Tower, especially the third season. In school I played rugby as a kicker, I had a perfect interception rate but my forward pass needed work. I still enjoy watching rugby from the bleachers whenever I get a chance.

Very clever

Midland is in Texas, I was there for a job interview back in '82, which included going to the local strip joint for some beers.

Tom

Midlands. With an s. HTH.