Re: Keeping other stuff with addresses

On 28/01/2025 02:05, Tim Rentsch wrote:

Thomas Koenig <tkoenig@netcologne.de> writes:
 

And I find no insult in what I wrote, but as you are a native
speaker, you may find something in there that I didn't put in.

 I think most native speakers of English would read the statement
"If it walks like a duck..." as an indirect way of calling me
a liar.  In polite society I think most people would take
being called a liar as an insult.

I haven't been following this thread well - and in Tim's traditional manner, the long time delay between his replies means it would take a lot of effort to figure it all out.  So this is not a commentary on anything in the thread - it's just what I hope will be a little clarification for Thomas about the duck phrase.
However, as a native speaker of English, I'd like to correct Tim - or at least add more nuance.  "If it walks like a duck..." simply means "I think it is what it appears to be".  It does /not/ have any specific implication of calling someone a liar, unless it /appears/ that the person has been lying.  It is, however, a phrase unlikely to be used in a positive manner - it could be used when someone has clearly been hypocritical to call them a hypocrite, or other such things.
Is it an insult?  If the phrase is used appropriately, then it is just putting emphasis on something that other people - but perhaps not the poster in question - can see.  When someone uses that phrase about something you have written, it is time for reflection on what you have posted and how it might have appeared to others.  You don't take it as a personal insult - you think carefully about why others might see your writings as something warranting the response.  And you might ask for clarification.
It may also be that Thomas, as a non-native English speaker, has slightly misunderstood the idiom or its implications.  This happens sometimes, even to those like Thomas that write better English than the solid majority of native speakers.  Idioms can be tricky.  A classic one that I have seen a number of times is the phrase "thanks a bunch" used as genuine gratitude.  In English, it is invariably used sarcastically.