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Comment by broken-kebab | Hacker News Reader

He liked to make fun of emerging CS, it was his thing, and he did it pretty well. He wasn't "miserable ass", he was a man of different culture. "Positive attitude" as you used it is a late americanism FWIW. In many parts of the world we often bring our criticisms in similar caustic manner, and we enjoy it while being resilient and optimistic.

It doesn't mean that he was always right, of course.

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I suppose the thing that stuck in my craw is what I perceived as a personal slight:

> Your writings made me wonder in which discipline you got your doctor’s degree.

It’s ambiguous, so I can give the benefit of the doubt. However, if intended as an insult, I believe that goes beyond speaking frankly about one’s feelings about a programming language in a manner consistent with one’s culture.

I see what you mean, and in fact I'm sure it is an insult. However, sensitivity to it is still a matter of particular culture-time. Some cultures tend to consider such things to be an attack against someone's social status no matter what context. Others may take them as banter, or emotional coloring if you like.

Another example: Americans seemingly normalized public swearing using what was originally sex-related slang, while in many other cultures it is a very-very dangerous minefield. And let's not forget that the whole field at that time was orders of magnitude smaller, which implies less formal spectrum of accepted styles of communication.

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