A decent, sensible response.
[QUOTE=MishaRastov;1594840]If I can just remind you of the relevant bits of your post:
"The plane is almost boarding. I need some help from fellow mongers. Would really appreciate your help here guys. Before the captain says mobiles and laptops off for take off. " As a native English speaker that sounds very imminent to departure to me, so I am sure you can understand now why it sounds exactly like that to people who do not have English as their first language. Might be prudent to perhaps step back a little and cogitate around that what you wrote might not have been what you meant.[/QUOTE]Well, whilst I genuinely intended for it to almost be a metaphor. A plane cannot be both almost boarding (so not yet) and simultaneously passengers are awaiting a Captain's announcement. So clearly intended to give the impression (without giving a flight number! That I was going to Dubai very soon (which was true). Would anyone REALLY post on this forum on a plane minutes before the captain speaks? Seriously? Passengers next to one another "look at that guy on the International Sex Guide". I don't think so. However, Misha, the calm and sensible tone you have adopted (unlike some) does indeed cause one to reflect that a non-native English speaker may well have considered my prose to be something more that I had intended. And trust me. Has I received the sensible type message you have delivered, I would have bee far more gracious in my reply. As it is, I can tell you that I have been genuinely surprised at the very kind comments I have received via PM today concerning this issue and with several very senior members offering all sorts of incredibly useful information and private names and numbers in addition to referring to some of the senior members of this forum in very derogatory terms I shall not repeat here!
So. I bow to your request to reflect and you are of course correct. What I actually wrote was not what I meant as a matter of fact but was a metaphoric statement of "guys I'm leaving for Dubai soon and I need some help before I go please". Shame that some people have little more to do than to embark upon defamatory allegations of deceit and lying. Which could result in more than comments in this forum but disclosure orders and civll law suits if it continues. The better course, as you to suggest is to exercise discretion. Thank you for your balanced comments. Which, because of the balance did cause me to look at what I wrote again.