Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2005 17:56:23 -0400
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
From: Elspeth Kovar <ekovar at worldnet.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Beyond a Great Con...
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

At 05:32 PM 10/21/2005, dicconf wrote:

>Oh, for pete's sake.  Now somebody else is fanning the fire.
>
>On Fri, 21 Oct 2005, Elspeth Kovar wrote:
>
> > Dick,
> >
> > I am completely at a loss as to how a statement about a person's actions
> > can be "let's you and him fight" as the only people in that exchange are
> > the person who said it and the person it was said to.  If you're going to
> > be obnoxious at least be accurate about it.
>
>Ted's egregious "Stop being an Enabler and be a Leader" was a
>recommendation that _the_person_he_was_addressing_ should do something
>drastic about the Lee-Keith matter, rather than that he should continue to
>(try to) calm things down.  It was only the latest of a number of ploys
>aimed at getting other people who were trying to be peacemakers or were
>simply minding their own business to be aggressive toward people he wanted
>Punished.  Am I going too fast for you?

Not at all.  You'd said something that was completely incomprehensible to
me and have now explained it.  I don't agree with your take on it but can
now see how you reached that perspective.  Thank you.

> > "Some people have a genius for the game
> > Of pouring oil upon the troubled flame"
> >
> > was absolutely a snarky remark,
>
>Yes.

Which response surprised me; I'd expected a rationalization.  Thank you
very much for your honesty.

<snip>

>And that ends my discussion with you.  Let us return to our _moutons_.

My French is rather shabby these days, being mainly used with the help of a
dictionary for reading poetry.  When I looked it up, however -- "Sheepskin
that has been sheared and processed to resemble beaver or seal"?  (Granted
I do have a couple of sheepskins but they've never been sheared to resemble
anything.  In any event while one was once used to pad my wooden desk chair
at school they've long since been taken over by the cats.)

Without pulling out the by ragged dictionary I take it to mean "return to
our sheep."  Which invokes a lovely and peaceful image of pastures rather
than "let us tend to our own sheep", which might be what you meant.

Let's all go with the peaceful.

Elspeth