Just before the pandemic struck I was chatting online with some friends who reside in Beijing. They own a company whose business is international education. They told me that there is an increasing demand among parents that their children be taught British English.

@ASTRALMAX Obviously they have decided that the US is getting too dangerous, and they don't want their children going near it, or even have a reason to do so.

@Fernapple Yes, they do not want their children exposed to a dangerous environment.

Oh Pleeease! Now I'm anti Yorkshire! I have friends from Yorkshire, Lancashire, Shropshire, Nottingham and four or five southern counties. This has nothing to do with that. My comment was to somebody who was trying to pick a fight over something I posted that was perfectly innocent and correct, and what I said was a joke (something Brits have been doing for a long time to each other, remember Monte Pithon?) Doesn't anybody have a sense of humor anymore? Now, for some unknown reason I have become reviled by several people with whom I have never corresponded before over a harmless assertion that many people nowadays are pronouncing the article "the" improperly. AND i STAND BY WHAT I SAID. I posted those two YouTube tutorials to show that what I said was true. That's all. I can't believe the people that use this website. I never met with such a vituperative reception in the years I have been posting. Who needs it. G'day.

@ASTRALMAX I am not "a dangerous environment" I am an individual who happens to be from this shithole of a country. Speaking of "dangerous environments", we don't have a jellyfish the size of a button, that can kill in 20 seconds, or the largest proliferation of poisonous snakes and insects in the world (not to mention crocodiles). Have a nice day but be careful crossing the Outback. Why is everybody attacking me?!

@fishline79 I don't think he meant you, as a dangerous evironment.

@Fernapple All this has shown me that the people who claim to be agnostics are apparently a bunch of pathetic, disillusioned, malcontents with a surfeit of latent hostility and absolutely no sense of humor. I used to think that about "Christians" but I guess we are all just human beings, and that's the worst indictment I can pronounce. Now, if you will excuse me, I'll go commune with my dogs.

@Gwendolyn2018 Thanks. I'll keep your diagnosis in mind and try to be a better little boy in the future. By the way, you and "LovinLarge" and some dork from Australia are the only people among my nearly 500 fans who have ever recognized what a reprobate I am.

@fishline79 How many of your 500 fans actually know you?

@fishline79 I would not call you a reprobate, I would call you mulish. It is an important part of the scientific process to incorporate new evidence into your repertoire. You are so entrenched in your need to require people to do things the way you think they should that it keeps you from growing.

@LovinLarge I don't "require" anybody to do anything! That is your prerogative. Why don't you just ignore me? I have a right to say what I want without your permission. Why are you two the arbiters of what people post? What are you, the thought police, or just frustrated man-hating lesbians? Get a life!

@LovinLarge 348.

@LovinLarge How in hell do I know? It's at the top of my profile page, and it's 495.

@Gwendolyn2018 An accidental "inverted diphthong". I sometimes make typographical errors in my haste. Sue me.

@fishline79 David, your profile page says 0 fans.

@Gwendolyn2018 The last sentence needs a subject.

@LovinLarge, @Gwendolyn2018 * "If the number of fans determine who is right, guess I win."

The sentence is incomplete. It needs "I" before "Guess". That would be the subject. Maybe you could delete your last comment, but you never make mistakes so I guess you won't.

@fishline79 You remind me of one of those Trumpers who doesn't understand the significance of expertise because none of them have any. You have no expertise in English and yet you a start a competition with Gwen who is an expert in the field. You are also not an expert in music if we use your vocal abiility to determine it.

@Gwendolyn2018 I beg your pardon, but clearly you need another "I". "I guess I win" unless you mean that I should guess you win, then, like 'Whistle Dixie', it could begin with a verb, but that's not what you meant. I can't believe you don't see that! Perhaps you should have stayed in the seventh grade. Now, if you don't mind, I'm tired of wasting my time and you probably have tests to correct.

@LovinLarge I did not start the "competition". Good night.

@fishline79 Of course you started it, by disseminating false information about the English language and by misjudging the use of the language without the credentials to do so. You've been corrected with evidence and by an expert yet you are not man enough to own your errors. You're that dork who made nerds and geeks look cool In high school.

@LovinLarge "I'm rubber, you're glue" nyah, nyah, nyah!

@fishline79 Having an inner child is one thing but conducting yourself as a child at your advanced age is quite something else.

@Gwendolyn2018 @fishline79 Understandable, he is a nuisance. Since I am "lost", I might as well take the opposite approach, ha ha. Let the games begin!

@Gwendolyn2018 Pretty sure this is the only attention he's had in years!

@LovinLarge I thought you would understand that since you don't seem to understand anything else I say, due to misuse of language.

Here's my "Lupercalia" wish to you in your own style. Blow it out your arse, you pompous bitch! I've had enough of your hate-filled diatribes. If you don't like what I say, fuck off! I don't deserve to be berated by the likes of you. You know nothing about me, and I care nothing about you.

@fishline79 Stop spreading misinformation.