‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

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Mrs.Green
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‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by Mrs.Green »

If someone was writing a long and interesting answer to a post, would it be consideted rude to say; ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’? I know I have used this sentence before, meaning nothing wrong at all but beliving ‘lengthy’ in this case was short for ‘long and interesting/informative’.

To my horror I found a different explanation ; lengthy meaning ‘boring or tedious’. So, without knowing it or meaning to, I possibly have offended somebody here :idea:
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One Windowsill
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by One Windowsill »

Some people see sarcasm everywhere. I always assume that someone is being honest and truthful, saves wear and tear on the emotions. If someone wants to insult me they should be straightforward and unambiguous about it.

Having said that, "Thank you for the trouble you took explaining this in depth - much appreciated." would leave less room for ambiguity.
Jangaudi
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by Jangaudi »

I has become incredibly easy to offend people on forums etc. but not here actually. There's a hell of a lot of words which could possibly be misused / misinterpreted, but for anyone who is not speaking his/her mother tongue, it's next to impossible to judge all those subtleties. So if someone would be offended by someone using the phrase "for your information", it is really not your fault ;)
DaveW
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by DaveW »

Just say thank you for your "comprehensive" reply, instead of "lengthy"! :lol:

Some people do not want to know the actual answer, just a quick one. I remember in the 1960's a chap called McDonald who was over the cactus greenhouses at Kew told us he was approached by a lady who asked him how she should water her cacti. He told her the truth, that it depended on how warm the weather was and the soil in the pot dries out etc and not to water until the soil was dry again, just as you will get told here.

Anyway, a while later he heard her ask the same thing to one of the junior gardeners and he said "once once a fortnight and once a month in winter". She said "thank you very much, I asked that chap over there but obviously he did not know!" Not everything in life is simple and can be explained in a few words.
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greenknight
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by greenknight »

"Lengthy" is one of those tricky words with different connotations depending on how it's used. Personally, I always take the more positive interpretation in such cases - if you want to insult me, you have to be explicit!
Spence :mrgreen:
Mrs.Green
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by Mrs.Green »

Thank you very much One Windowsill, Jangaudi and DaveW :)

These days its not easy to communicate with people both IRL and online..the possibilities for offending someone whitout intent or meaning it, seems endless.. Every week there seems to be new words or sentences that suddenly are offending to someone. Yes, I do know and understand that some words are outdated and should righly be replaced but the ‘OFFENDED!’ craze have gone to far in my opinion. I belive it backfires in many cases and are doing the ‘offended’ groups more harm than good.

It’s fasciating that a single word can have many different meanings . The word ‘kjerring’ in my dialect can mean at least four different things, both totally harmless and as an insult. -Kjerringa til John- means Johns wife. -Kjerring- can also be a random woman. -( gammel ) kjerring - an old woman and last; være/opptre som ei kjerring- is an insult/description of a man/woman/ young adult , who have all the bad qualities of women/ acts like that.

DaveW; its interesting you mentions long/ quick answers. The former can absolutely be both intersting and educative but how do you reply to such an answer? Should you adress every single thing that the poster writes in his answer or is it ok to just adress a couple of things? Not adressing everything could be seen as the receiver find those ( unadressed items) uninteresting or wrong.. but on the other hand, commenting on everything would in many cases just be repeating what that person already has said..

The story about the Kev gardener is very telling and he’s absulutely right but a lot of people just want’s a quick answer as you say. I have encountered this myself, since I have a lot of plants( other than cacti) . So when people asks how much water should this plant have or can I place in it my bathroom? The correct answer would be; ‘I have no idea’ since I haven’t been in their home or knows how their bathroom looks like ( heat/light).

Thank you Greenknight :) Me too :P but when you write/read another language than your own it is even more possibilities to write something ‘wrong’ unintendely or misinerpret whats written.

But at least I now know how to more or less subtle insult someone :lol: ( lengthy answer)
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anttisepp
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by anttisepp »

Brevity is the sister of talent. Though its always pleasant to read talented and experienced people's posts.
Sorry here isn't button "like" it could be easy and brief way to send feedback.
Mrs.Green
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by Mrs.Green »

anttisepp wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 7:52 am Brevity is the sister of talent. Though its always pleasant to read talented and experienced people's posts.
Sorry here isn't button "like" it could be easy and brief way to send feedback.
Thank you Anttisepp :) I have learned a new word, can’t remember to have seen ‘brevity’ before. I am a bit ambigious about ‘like’ buttons as I know it can be mis-used or trigger post/answers that wouldn’t be written otherwise. It’s not unknown on forums that the ‘like’button is used as flattery more of the person writing the post than the post itself or the opposit way, not ‘liking’ a post since it the ‘wrong’ person who wrote it.
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One Windowsill
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by One Windowsill »

anttisepp wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 7:52 am Brevity is the sister of talent. Though its always pleasant to read talented and experienced people's posts.
Sorry here isn't button "like" it could be easy and brief way to send feedback.
:thumbright:
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One Windowsill
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by One Windowsill »

Mrs.Green wrote: Tue Jun 08, 2021 7:34 am It’s fasciating that a single word can have many different meanings . The word ‘kjerring’ in my dialect can mean at least four different things, both totally harmless and as an insult. -Kjerringa til John- means Johns wife. -Kjerring- can also be a random woman. -( gammel ) kjerring - an old woman and last; være/opptre som ei kjerring- is an insult/description of a man/woman/ young adult , who have all the bad qualities of women/ acts like that.
Depending where you are in England, "chuffed" either means "happy/pleased" or "unhappy/displeased". This has caused confusion, in my experience at university where there were people from across the country.
DaveW
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by DaveW »

To make your words clear, since unlike in face to face speech the reader cannot discern from your face whether you were being complimentary, humorous or sarcastic, is why emoji's were inverted for the Web. "Thanks for your long answer" is clearly a compliment if it is followed by a thumbs up emoji.
keith
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by keith »

‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’? " No but now I have to think about it :D

Dave's right use emojis :D :D
Mrs.Green
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by Mrs.Green »

Thank you Keith and DaveW :) You are right about the use of emojis and I do use them, even thoug I don’t like it, to be honest.
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One Windowsill
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by One Windowsill »

Don't forget the memes.
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Mrs.Green
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Re: ‘Thank you for your lengthy reply’ - rude?

Post by Mrs.Green »

One Windowsill; Ugh..the memes..well..I have to admit that I can’t stand them :P
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