Re: DDL

From: Howard J. Rogers <hjr_at_dizwell.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 13:57:34 +1100
Message-ID: <41a2a720$0$31870$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au>

Joel Garry wrote:
> "Howard J. Rogers" <hjr_at_dizwell.com> wrote in message news:<41a05509$0$31870$afc38c87_at_news.optusnet.com.au>...
>

>>I didn't seek to extract an apology. Though anyone who has assumed the 
>>OP can't speak "proper" English probably owes the OP one.

>
>
> Going back and re-reading my post, I don't see any need for an
> apology, but if someone else does, here it is: I apologize.
>
> I just posted it because I thought it was interesting and may have
> bearing on this question. I would be interested in knowing why it is
> considered condescending,

Do you think the English you speak is "eccentric"?

Presumably not. But the article says precisely that about Indian English.

I can't remember most of the other things I thought crypto-racist about it (the article, not you or your post, incidentally), but I remember it pointing out how curious it was that some Indians put the word 'but' into every sentence... clearly never having visited New South Wales, where much the same thing happens; or Queensland where the addition of choice is "eh".

> I thought the article fair and
> non-judgemental,

OK, it's only one word... "eccentric". But you wouldn't say that about your own use of language. And whilst you may say it about others', one presumes you don't label an entire ethnic group in that way.

> and I don't see how pointing at it could be so
> Politically Incorrect. Perhaps someone read or misread a previous
> post I made about unintelligible O support or the H1-B issues and
> added context I didn't intend?

Well, I don't know that I had anything else *you'd* specifically written in mind. Just a lot of 'chatter' or background noise in the group as a whole going back many months about the sub-continent and those curious, eccentric little Indian chappies stealing all our jobs...

And it is remarkable how a number of people in this thread leapt to the conclusion that the ambiguity in the question (which I believe is only ambiguous if you rule in ridiculous scenarios, but whatever) arose not because of the inherent meaning of the words, but because English wasn't the OP's first language (a dangerous assumption to make about any Indian), or that he had fumbled it somehow.

The assumption (by many) was not: this guy's asked a legitimate question, let's clarify what he means and answer it.

Whether that's a latent racism or what, I wouldn't presume to judge. But it merits pointing out, I think.

Regards
HJR
> Here's some context I've stated
> before: I'm a liberal in the sense of US '60s politics. Kinda like
> the viewpoint of the original Star Trek series.
>
> My take on the OP was that it _sounded_ right out of a course or book,
> perhaps corrupted in transit through the OP's brain. Small chance it
> could've been a troll, and if it was, it was a pretty good one. We
> should assume questions are legitimate, so it's reasonable to answer
> even trollish posts seriously.
>
> I'd still like to know why DDL can't be contained in a transaction. I
> suspect it would have something to do with it being too complicated or
> slow to deal with recursive table locking and read consistency issues.
> I don't see how to figure out the "why" with SQL.

>
> jg
> --
> @home.com is bogus. "Just being a rock 'n' roll singer in the 1960s
> was a political statement... In the '80s, it started occurring to me
> that everyone I knew who played music wasn't a liberal. And I was
> amazed." - Linda Ronstadt
Received on Mon Nov 22 2004 - 20:57:34 CST