> Greetings & Salutations to all.
>
> I am new to this game, so I will rant a little on why I am now entering, although my reason is similar to others'. Probably twofold: (1) I like versatile, silly people.
>

Me too. This place is very theraputic. I was extremely uptight when I first came here. The humor and reason of this place and the people here has been wonderful.

>(2) After having read of the order 15 pages of this forum, I adore Sams expression of opinion.
>

Agreed.


> The sun set (I just made this expression up: The expression "It dawned (up)on me" kind of implies that something suddenly becomes clear, whereas I wanted to describe something that had been rummaging around for a while at the back of my mind, gradually working its way to a peak of attention) particularly for me when reading the debate on racism and Political Correctness (please people, could I persuade you not to use the same abbreviation for two different concepts? Although I don't think that anyone of sufficient mental awareness to care would confuse the two (the two that I could think of), it is a bad habit, and you know what to do with those) in connection with "The Phantom Menace" (messages 4203 and 4219). I mean, I agree _completely_ with this guy (on this issue), but my problem is that I could not sit down and express the arguments like he does. The more I think about this, the more it bothers me: When I see people express certain opinions, I instinctively know that I'm against them, but if I try to discuss it with them, I simply become run over before I get around to saying what I believe. Does anyone recognize this feeling?
>

Yes. In my case it's again part of that whole uptight thing. I attempted to participate in a religion discussion here a while back and felt completely incapable of making a decent argument. I thought long and hard about why. The main reason is I get emotionally strung up about things where Sam has a method of clear, factual argument based on clear belief. Clear, reasonable facts are important, as is confidence in your knowledge.

> The result usually is that my opponent feels that he (someplace-in-RinkForum-is-buried-a-discussion-of-this,-but-I-can't-remember-where) has convinced me. Sam, do you have a consultancy?
>

Try a debate team.

> Another reason just spr... sprung? sprang? (forgive a poor guy his language) came to mind. You seem to have travelled a fair bit. Has anyone been to Denmark? What do you think about it (even if you haven't been there (this could be fun (yes, I might be digging for trouble here :)))).
>

I have never been to Denmark, but I am 1/4 Danish, and my grandparents have been there many times. It sounds fabulous, though I am wary of visiting any place where I can't communicate with the majority easily. I have enough trouble communicating with those who speak my language. (it's a personal problem, impatience, though I think I'm growing out of it)

> I was quite amused by the discussion on the meaning of the words (message 3971 and the thread onwards from there), and the assertion that since a particular word had been used for four centuries, it was definitely valid, but two centuries meant that it would be on the border of bad language to use it (I interpret that as being somewhat joking, but is still amused me). In danish the meaning of "godt og vel" has changed from "a little bit less than" to "a little bit more than" in something like 50 years.
>
> Jul"You might have noticed that this is my stab at several hitherto unattempted (as far as I know) Message Forum records. For instance, can a single message generate enough response to fill a whole page (or more---and what happens if it does). If this message goes wrong (or right), it could open several cans of worms (I learnt that one at RinkWorks!)"ian
>

Welcome!

Dagmar (a.k.a Tyler in earlier posts)