From: Joshua Juran Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:24:15 GMT Subject: Re: wiki "abuse" Message-ID: <934212D5-B5AD-4AD2-847D-24FE90571460@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: On Aug 10, 2010, at 1:03 AM, Daniele Segato wrote: > On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 8:08 PM, Johannes Schindelin > wrote: >> When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Going about in Rome, spitting >> everywhere, is rude, even if it is considered polite in your home >> country. > > This is racist. > > I'm Italian, I can't say I love my country or my people manners but > nowhere here "spitting everywhere" is considered polite, nor everybody > does that. I don't see the above statement as an example of that or problematic in any way. First of all, it says that "spitting everywhere" is considered rude, not polite in Rome. Your objection regards an assertion that wasn't made. Second, if anything, he implied that spitting hypothetically might be considered polite in the home country of Amir Aharoni, or maybe Valeo de Vries -- not yours. Another interpretation is that the second person was used as a variable for whomever, not a specific person. Third, references to Rome and Romans generally refer to the historical Roman Empire, not modern Italians living in Rome. Except in the case of "When in Rome" where it's invariably a metaphor, and not actually referring to Rome at all.[1] Here it refers to the Git wiki, and the 'home country' is some other wiki. > And you missed the point here. Watch out -- I hear it's contagious. Josh [1] This holds even if the speaker is referring to Roma, Italy, which is not the same place as ancient Rome.