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Comment by osrec | Hacker News Reader

Please don't feel insulted. It's merely a general observation relating to culture in certain geographies, not to be applied to you specifically.

For example, an Indian in India may not think twice before throwing their food wrapper on the road side, but would probably never do that when on holiday in London (if they did, society or police would reprimand them for it and correct their action).

Similarly in tech, certain things (esp. related to quality/code cleanliness etc) seem much more relaxed in India compared to elsewhere.

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I didn't mean to single you or anyone else out. I've seen this sentiment echoed in multiple online forums and as one of them incompetent developers in India, I feel the need to defend myself.

> ...and as one of them incompetent developers in India, I feel the need to defend myself.

Is there a typo (or 2) in here somewhere?

I substituted 'them' for 'those'. According to the interweb, it's grammatically acceptable in informal English.

Similar to saying "Look at them eyes" or "One of them developers will get to it eventually".

ref: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/them

Makes sense. Unfortunately, the use of "them" instead of "those" in this case (actually, in many cases) is grammatically incorrect.

At the very least this usage would cause the listener/reader to assume that English is not the speakers first language, or assume a lower level of education.

Not meaning this to be a discouragement, but hopefully, a help

Thanks for letting me know, I will avoid it.

> ...and as one of them incompetent developers in India, I feel the need to defend myself.

In your original sentence, you are trying to use "them" as an adjective to modify "incompetent developers," but "them" should only be used as a 3rd person plural pronoun. Using "them" as an adjective is not proper; your examples sound strange to native speakers, and is usually associated with vernacular English in general. Native speakers may assume this usage is due to poor knowledge of proper English, or possibly a regional (improper, but common) usage in the American South.

https://grammarstars.blogspot.com/2008/08/41-them-and-those-...

The first example is straight out of the oxford dictionary link that I posted. It's at the bottom of the page under "Informal, dialect".

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/them

A couple of other examples: 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB33z9xoSw8&feature=youtu.be... 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elUsB4y5RVk

There are plenty more examples on Google.

I want to say I take your point. I wouldn't use this in formal writing, but as far as I can tell this is an accepted western way to emphasise something.

> I want to say I take your point. I wouldn't use this in formal writing, but as far as I can tell this is an accepted western way to emphasise something.

No, it isn't. Using "them" in the way you did makes you sound like a hillbilly.

Just some advice: it's wise to avoid using any words or usage listed in the dictionary as "dialect" unless you're very familiar with the particular dialect it's from. Likewise, you should be very careful with "informal" terms unless you've actually been introduced to them informally by someone who knows how they're used. There's a lot of cultural context that needs to be mastered with those, and you won't learn that from a book, let alone a dictionary.

I saw the dictionary entry. Still, take it from a native (US)speaker. The only time you would want to use it is either in jest, or to sound like an uneducated hillbilly.

*edit - I will add that the 2 youtube videos are not good examples to be learning english from...

I would like to amend my above comment: the 2 youtube videos are HORRIBLE examples to be learning english from.

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