- Joined
- Jan 8, 2008
- Messages
- 10,132
- Reaction score
- 5,714
Sour grapes...absolutely correct description for you
It's you that's cherry-picking, nit picking really. I wouldn't know where to begin to find the post where you you questioned my skills. I'd have to have replied to it in order to search for it. And the chances are poor that I did simply because it's so mind-bogglingly silly. But in this discussion you've repeatedly called me a "phoney."
Phoney what? I don't claim to know anything about watches or suits, I don't claim to be a fashion plate or stylish. I simply don't claim any expertise in any area but what I know--shoes...the making of them, the materials they're made of, the traditions surrounding them. And a large, large base of experience with fit and the foot and with people who wear shoes. I don't claim any skills or knowledge I don't have. I don't speak or write about issues I don't know anything about without first clearly stating that I don't know anything about it.
I also know shoe repair from the inside out. I claim to know shoe repair simply because I was trained in it and have done it for many years.
You, on the other hand, get offended every time I remind you that you, yourself, said that you don't do any of the actual physical work in the shoe repair shop yourself. Apparently, you can't even come to terms--accept, admit and be comfortable--with the honest reality of what you do...and don't do.
So what is the basis of your claim to expertise? How do you justify advising other people about shoes and shoe construction, etc.? You don't make shoes, you don't actually do the shoe repair...never get your hands dirty...and yet you pretend to know everything worth knowing about how shoes are made or what materials are satisfactory in what conditions for what people. And yes, the word that most applies to you is "pretend." Pretense. Even when you are forced to admit that you don't do the work, you posture and pose as if you did/do. That's as "phoney" as it comes.
You echo other posers remarks about my tooting my own horn. It's true, I am not afraid to say what I know. I am not afraid to let people who don't know me know what I do. "It's not arrogance to say what you know professionally. It is arrogance to reject expert opinion without having expertise of your own."
Yet it seems to me that you trumpet yourself and your reputation and integrity...when those were never in question...as often or more often than anyone here. That's not only phoney, it's "methinks she doth protest too much."
You claim to "prove" issues....but the only "proof" you offer (as with the business of stretching shoes lengthwise) is the assertions that you've done it. Not whether you should have done it. I never, ever, said it couldn't be done, I simply said it couldn't be done without distorting the shoe. I offered a detailed explanation of why stretching a shoe lengthwise would distort it, along with an illustration to remind you of the mechanics of the process.
And you offered nothing in reply but stubborn insistence that you have repeatedly distorted customers shoes--if you're stretching shoes that cannot be stretched without distortion, then distortion is what you're really doing. No proof there except in your own mind.
And it desperately begs the question whether you really do know anything about the structure or limitations of shoes...and, by extension, about shoe repair. Because if you think distorting a shoe just because you can is good shoe repair, you're way off track. Best practices would be to recognize, and make the customer recognize, the limitation of a shoe--"it's too short for you, you bought it a size too small, I can't stretch it without distorting it." Anything else is, in my opinion, just taking their money. No integrity or ethical behaviour in doing that...not in my opinion.
I never said that sole guards, per se, ruined shoes. Another figment of your imagination. And don't bother to take my words out of context to present some bogus proof. I think and speak with some deliberation (at least I don't go calling people names at the drop of the hat), I often deliberately leave myself some wiggle room when I make remarks that I am only 99.9% sure of. I do that deliberately. When I spoke about sole guards ruining shoes I did so in the context of shoe repairmen and the repeated replacement on shoes worn by customers who were not as fastidious about taking care of their shoes as they might be. I know you can read the words, I suspect you have trouble assimilating the meaning.
I answer your posts according to what I consider important issues to address, not according to what you think are your best scoring points. And that's the way it will always be. I'm not going to change.
And yes, I use words, and my writing skills, to communicate. To...as clearly as I can...communicate my thoughts, experiences and knowledge. Words are tools and I am a tool user, if I am anything. I try to choose words carefully...for job--the right tool for the right job.
It's an act of love and respect. Would you rather I talked down to you...would you prefer that I assume that you're not capable of understanding? Not capable of maintaining focus and attention beyond the time it takes to run a 20 second commercial? If you'd prefer grunts and chest pounding, you need to talk to someone else.
On the other hand, I don't often criticize other people for their inability to write; for using "no" when they meant "know," for instance. It's inarticulate, illiterate, uneducated, and hard to read but I don't criticize.
Finally, I don't regard any of this as a contest. I am not looking to "win." You brought it up so obviously you do consider it a contest and winning to be important. I believe that if knowledge is to be "free," it needs to be reliable and accurate. With regard to shoemaking, and my contributions on SF, that's my mission--to be a foil for all the ignorance parading and posturing on the internet. And sometimes people (when they get it in their heads), as well.
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Sour grapes...absolutely correct description for you
It's you that's cherry-picking, nit picking really. I wouldn't know where to begin to find the post where you you questioned my skills. I'd have to have replied to it in order to search for it. And the chances are poor that I did simply because it's so mind-bogglingly silly. But in this discussion you've repeatedly called me a "phoney."
Phoney what? I don't claim to know anything about watches or suits, I don't claim to be a fashion plate or stylish. I simply don't claim any expertise in any area but what I know--shoes...the making of them, the materials they're made of, the traditions surrounding them. And a large, large base of experience with fit and the foot and with people who wear shoes. I don't claim any skills or knowledge I don't have. I don't speak or write about issues I don't know anything about without first clearly stating that I don't know anything about it.
I also know shoe repair from the inside out. I claim to know shoe repair simply because I was trained in it and have done it for many years.
You, on the other hand, get offended every time I remind you that you, yourself, said that you don't do any of the actual physical work in the shoe repair shop yourself. Apparently, you can't even come to terms--accept, admit and be comfortable--with the honest reality of what you do...and don't do.
So what is the basis of your claim to expertise? How do you justify advising other people about shoes and shoe construction, etc.? You don't make shoes, you don't actually do the shoe repair...never get your hands dirty...and yet you pretend to know everything worth knowing about how shoes are made or what materials are satisfactory in what conditions for what people. And yes, the word that most applies to you is "pretend." Pretense. Even when you are forced to admit that you don't do the work, you posture and pose as if you did/do. That's as "phoney" as it comes.
You echo other posers remarks about my tooting my own horn. It's true, I am not afraid to say what I know. I am not afraid to let people who don't know me know what I do. "It's not arrogance to say what you know professionally. It is arrogance to reject expert opinion without having expertise of your own."
Yet it seems to me that you trumpet yourself and your reputation and integrity...when those were never in question...as often or more often than anyone here. That's not only phoney, it's "methinks she doth protest too much."
You claim to "prove" issues....but the only "proof" you offer (as with the business of stretching shoes lengthwise) is the assertions that you've done it. Not whether you should have done it. I never, ever, said it couldn't be done, I simply said it couldn't be done without distorting the shoe. I offered a detailed explanation of why stretching a shoe lengthwise would distort it, along with an illustration to remind you of the mechanics of the process.
And you offered nothing in reply but stubborn insistence that you have repeatedly distorted customers shoes--if you're stretching shoes that cannot be stretched without distortion, then distortion is what you're really doing. No proof there except in your own mind.
And it desperately begs the question whether you really do know anything about the structure or limitations of shoes...and, by extension, about shoe repair. Because if you think distorting a shoe just because you can is good shoe repair, you're way off track. Best practices would be to recognize, and make the customer recognize, the limitation of a shoe--"it's too short for you, you bought it a size too small, I can't stretch it without distorting it." Anything else is, in my opinion, just taking their money. No integrity or ethical behaviour in doing that...not in my opinion.
I never said that sole guards, per se, ruined shoes. Another figment of your imagination. And don't bother to take my words out of context to present some bogus proof. I think and speak with some deliberation (at least I don't go calling people names at the drop of the hat), I often deliberately leave myself some wiggle room when I make remarks that I am only 99.9% sure of. I do that deliberately. When I spoke about sole guards ruining shoes I did so in the context of shoe repairmen and the repeated replacement on shoes worn by customers who were not as fastidious about taking care of their shoes as they might be. I know you can read the words, I suspect you have trouble assimilating the meaning.
I answer your posts according to what I consider important issues to address, not according to what you think are your best scoring points. And that's the way it will always be. I'm not going to change.
And yes, I use words, and my writing skills, to communicate. To...as clearly as I can...communicate my thoughts, experiences and knowledge. Words are tools and I am a tool user, if I am anything. I try to choose words carefully...for job--the right tool for the right job.
It's an act of love and respect. Would you rather I talked down to you...would you prefer that I assume that you're not capable of understanding? Not capable of maintaining focus and attention beyond the time it takes to run a 20 second commercial? If you'd prefer grunts and chest pounding, you need to talk to someone else.
On the other hand, I don't often criticize other people for their inability to write; for using "no" when they meant "know," for instance. It's inarticulate, illiterate, uneducated, and hard to read but I don't criticize.
Finally, I don't regard any of this as a contest. I am not looking to "win." You brought it up so obviously you do consider it a contest and winning to be important. I believe that if knowledge is to be "free," it needs to be reliable and accurate. With regard to shoemaking, and my contributions on SF, that's my mission--to be a foil for all the ignorance parading and posturing on the internet. And sometimes people (when they get it in their heads), as well.
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