Okay whilst I understand to some extent where you´re coming from, you are making sweeping statements about single parents, mothers in particular.
I say I understand only because my daughter is a single working woman paying a mortgage for her house, and she has a couple of friends who have had two or three children by different fathers and have everything paid for them, including their rent, by the State (in the UK). My daughter despairs of the unfairness, particularly as these friends do not seem to see or understand the unfairness, and one is now expecting yet another child by another man!
However, at the end of the day, she is happier than they are in many ways. She has the freedom to do exactly what she chooses without the burden of children, and will hopefully find it easier to find the man she will eventually settle down with.
Single parents are on the increase in some countries for a number of reasons, not all fit the rationale you are trying to use.
People have different perceptions of crudity or offensiveness. Imagine, someone posting something on the xxx thread only to be booted off and criticised for not being xxxx enough!
That has nothing to do with your level of English, many of us have been accused of the same thing, usually by the same small group of people.
I have to agree though, your English is excellent, much better than the majority of native speakers here.
Have you ever taken any formal examinations? The Cambridge exams are internationally accepted, (you could sail through the Advanced level) and are a great addition to your cv, particularly if you intend to travel and work.
Well the "Mary Whitehouse brigade" is clearly undercover, yet misses nothing methinks. They also seem to have friends in high places, so I don´t think your idea is a winner.
Were you thinking about someone else Cris, or having problems with the link? I know you´ve said sometimes you can´t open links or hear the youtube links.
Anyway, it is very sad, he was only 33 I think. I didn´t check out the link because I knew who Ghost was referring to having read about it this afternoon.
The latest news say he´d been on a drinking binge and choked on his own vomit.
You are right though, some people do find to more dificult than others to learn a new language, and it gets more difficult with age.
I know what you mean about trying to use the language only to find they want to speak to you in English. I´ve lived here for five years now, but I learnt Spanish before I came here, and most of my friends are Spanish, so I´m pretty fluent now.
I don´t have that problem here in the city centre of Murcia, hardly anybody speaks English! Good news for me though, it means plenty of work, especially nowadays, everybody wants to add English speaker to their cv.
I agree that there are many bitter people here. However, divorce or separation, is the same as any other emotional upheaval we may have to deal with, and there are natural stages to go through, the last two often described as Letting go and Acceptance
Letting go means that you have realised that the marriage or relationship is over, and nothing can change that fact. Some become more forgiving during this stage, and take responsibility for playing a part in the break up. Many also become more optimistic about the future.
The Acceptance stage is when you can now make concrete plans for the future, and more importantly, follow them through. New interests are discovered, and career changes, or moving home may occur. These things happen because strengths and talents are re-discovered, or indeed discovered!
The pain does go away eventually if you let it.
I believe that people jump into dating, be it in real life or online, much too soon, before they have reached the Acceptance stage. This is why such bitterness is on show for all to see, and those who see it, recoil from it, as you implied Taino.
I know from personal experience that I started dating too soon after my divorce...in real life. When I arrived here I was past the Acceptance stage.
Well Ven, lots of those poll options, and for me some kind of proof that the photos are authentic and up to date. Not sure how that could be achieved though.
I´d also like to know the title and author of the last book read.
At the end of the day though, no matter how much extra mandatory information we would like, it still will not weed out the liars in our midst!
I have been described as "picky" on a couple of occasions, and as I´ve always said in my defence, it´s because I teach English. I do try to ignore errors though, otherwise 99% of my time here would be spent correcting them! Now that would be "picky" :)
I have never intentionally picked on non-native speakers though, or those members with dyslexia. As a teacher, and someone who has learnt other languages, I know how difficult it can be to write in a second or third language, frustrating too at times! In addition, as many have already said, non-native speakers are very brave and should not only be encouraged, but admired for joining in a forum where most of the members are native English speakers.
Non-native speakers of English often write much better than most of the native speakers incidentally. Although this is genuine praise indeed for the effort they have obviously put in to master English, it is a little worrying for me that the level of English on CS is not particularly high amongst the native speakers, regardless of the fact that we type quickly for example. I´m referring to very basic spelling and grammatical errors which crop up daily. However, as Morgan said, it doesn´t always inhibit understanding, and if you don´t teach English it obviously won´t make an iota of difference. That´s fine.
As for the OP, I would replace that word "most" in each option of your poll to perhaps less negative adverbs of frequency, and please carry on posting.
You know this really is a silly poll because any number of people will refute your opinion using stereotypical arguments.
For example, I know that many people say that Maltese women are short, bottom heavy and hirsute. Of course this is stereotyping as I´ve already said, just as many people believe all Russian women to be beautiful and Asian women fabulous homemakers and wives etc etc.
I said, in spite of choosing to reside in Spain, I defend my Britsh nationality if unfair comments are made.
That is what you implied in my reading of your post.
However, that is not really the argument, I was simply defending my personal viewpoint, as you did. The original question was about people completely denying/hiding their roots....not accepting nor defending. You and I are not denying our birth place, we make both negative and positive comments.
Chicken feet never! Not for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
I usually have actimel (yoghourt drink) Weetabix with skimmed milk and orange juice at home if I have time. If not, I´ll have toasted wholemeal bread with olive oil and tomato, and a black decaffeinated coffee around 10 or 11 am in a local cafeteria.
True and I´m sorry you suffered such personal heartache. However you could still go back to it John. There is a dire shortage of good teachers and lecturers.
As do most of the women´s here no doubt....perhaps a few of the guys too.
However, it is revealing that those (a few regular posters incidentally) who I know to be non native American, are still afraid to come out of the woodwork.
Jan1305 Forum Posts (5,319)
RE: would you still want to keep your job if u hit the lotto for over a million ???
We are alike in many ways I think. though I really do love my work. However, I gave up teaching kids years ago!