[geeks] CCW for Ohio!

[N. Miller]

--On Friday, December 12, 2003 11:09 PM -0600 Mike Hebel 
<nimitz at nimitzbrood.com> wrote:

> On Friday, December 12, 2003, at 10:25 PM, Francisco Javier Mesa-Martinez
> wrote:
>
>> Look, if you want to feel insulted, by all means do so. I am sure you
>> could find anything that you may find insulting even if I had been
>> talking about the nuances of bonsai grooming.
>
> But the insult was most definitely _not_ about bonsai grooming - it was
> about us.  Those "gun nuts" remember?  The use of the term is offensive
> and "from my experience" almost any gun owner or advocate would react
> badly to the use of it.

Replying a bit late, and normally I hate getting into semantic discussions
(I bitch about them all the time with my friends concerning another email
list where it always seems to devolve to semantics)...

>From www.m-w.com:
Main Entry: nut
Pronunciation: 'n&t
Function: noun
6 a : a foolish, eccentric, or crazy person b : ENTHUSIAST <a movie nut>

The unfortunate thing is that most of us who are "firearm enthusiasts"
have heard us called "gun nut" as a pejorative--i.e. definition "a".
As a result, we automatically interpret "gun nut" that way.

As a communication educator (technical and business writing), it is my
belief and position that it is the responsibility of the person voicing
the communication, whether it be in written, spoken or other form, to
assure the listener/reader understands the proper nuance of the message,
since the person speaking/writing is the "owner" of the communication.
You want your words to be understood the way you understand them, right?

So, I'll just say, "poor audience analysis" on the part of Francisco.
You've used the term before in other posts here, and I know that it
rankled me then, but obviously, it rankled Kurt a lot more--and
suddenly he let go with both virtual barrels in response.  And apparently,
"gun nut" was disagreeable with others as well.

However, as far as I am concerned, apology accepted.  Let's try to wait
at least 12 months before another gun control thread though...it gets
kind of old.

(And, by the way, I meant nothing negative by referring to you as an "old
soldier"...I know lots of them.  Though I am not sure that the old training
methods are the best. "We've always done it that way," is not a valid
argument for much of anything in my book. ;-)

=Nadine=