notes and comments

[arabaliozian]

alas!

Thursday, May 28, 2009
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ALAS!
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You want to be a benefactor? Making a million or a billion is the easy part. What's hard is the realization that all they want is your money, and when they look at you they don't see a face but a dollar sign.
You want to be a boss or bishop? Nothing to it. You start by saying “Yes, sir!” to the idiots who are ahead of you and the chances are you will have no trouble filling vacancies all the way to the top.
You want to be a writer? You have two options: (one) to write what they want to read, and (two) to write what you think. If you choose the first option, they may do you the favor of printing you; if the second, you may be free to live in the gulag of your choice.
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Literature: a field of human endeavor in which even the Turks are ahead of us.
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Journalism: ditto, alas!
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In a letter to the editor in our local paper today I read the following: “The general public, poorly educated for the most part and in many cases barely literate, is bamboozled by the media and lulled by game shows and sports extravaganzas.”
Replace “games” and “sports” with “atrocities” and “massacres” and you will have a fairly honest and objective assessment of our situation, alas!
#
Friday, May 29, 2009
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ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM
AND PRO-MESSIANISM
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On more than one occasion I have been attacked and insulted by readers on the grounds that so far I have failed to come up with the right verbal formula that will save the nation, as if such a formula ever existed in some yet undiscovered dimension and it was up to me to fetch it. Illusions, like fools, come in all sizes and shapes. There are still Russians today who believe in Stalin's propaganda line and call Solzhenitsyn a traitor, as there are Germans who are for Hitler and against Thomas Mann, who exposed Hitler's charlatanism. Fascism is not dead in Italy, neither is Maoism in China.
The ancients may not have known much about balanced diets but they knew that one way to kill a man was to condemn him to eat the same food for forty days. Hence the spectacle of dupes who after being fed the same propaganda line for a generation become living cadavers. I have yet to meet the Armenian dupe or Turcocentric ghazetaji who was not brain-dead.
Perhaps our anti-intellectualism is nothing but an extension of our pro-messianism.
And the problem with pro-messianism is that it completely ignores the fact that messiahs don't solve problems, they compound them by making unreasonable demands on us poor mortals – such as loving our enemies. The only Armenian I know who dared to speak of sympathy for the Turks was Saroyan. As for our sermonizers whose job it is to preach the message of our Savior: the less said about them better.
#
Saturday, May 30, 2009
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VARIATIONS ON ABRACADABRA
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At the end of his career as teacher and philosopher, Plato had every right to believe that he had been successful in solving most of mankind's problems, one of them being that rulers should also be philosophers. We know now that power and wisdom are mutually exclusive concepts and mankind prefers to be ruled not by philosophers but by philomorons.
When Marx toiled on his magnum opus in a London library writing against exploitation, did it ever occur to him that some day his ideas would be exploited by bloodthirsty barbarians who would victimize millions of innocent human beings? And to think that he was fully aware of the fact that for nearly two millennia mankind had exploited even the Word of God by reducing it to “opium" thus legitimizing the rule of the Devil.
What are ideas if not variations on abracadabra?
We like to say if it weren't for good men, mankind would be in a far worse shape. Maybe so. But what kind of consolation is that for the hungry, the sick, the dying, and the dead? Illusions are for the living and the favorite occupation of the living is to spin illusions. There you have it, a history of human thought in a single sentence.
#

[Kiffer]

Re: elegy

Sunday, April 26, 2009
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ELEGY
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An American chief executive officer – young, handsome, healthy, fabulously wealthy – has committed suicide. One down, ninety-nine to go.
*
Two American governors, Spitzer and Blogojevich, were caught red-handed. One resigned, the other impeached. But to me, the greater scandal is the fact that several of Obama's financial advisers are former Wall Street chief executive officers. If it takes one to catch one, how come no one has been caught yet? Bernie Madoff? If he is in jail today it's because he confessed. And then there are the senators who deny the reality of the Genocide not because they are convinced that to be the truth but because they are being handsomely compensated by Turkish lobbyists.
*
The rich are swine. Even as I curse my fate, I thank God for making me poor.
*
What is the penalty for being wrong? If nothing, anyone can say anything he wants.
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To be easily satisfied with one’s own arguments is an unmistakable symptom of advanced cretinism.
#
Monday, April 27, 2009
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LIVE AND LEARN
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When it comes to learning about oneself, friends are useless, enemies more valuable.
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Repeating oneself and being consistently negative are not mortal sins; being dishonest is.
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A hundred years ago our political leaders were naïve daydreamers. Today they are – or rather they think they are – pragmatic operators. I have trouble deciding which is worse: being at the mercy of fools, or idiots who think they are smart?
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Let others speak of the American dream, we can speak only of the Armenian nightmare.
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What kind of loving Father is He that needs to be constantly reminded to “give us this day our daily bread,” after which He lets millions die of malnutrition and starvation.
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You begin to learn only after you unlearn what you have been taught. Likewise, you begin to write only after you give up all literary ambitions.
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I am grateful to readers who don't think highly of me. The temptation to believe sycophants can be overwhelming.
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When experts disagree, prejudice casts the deciding vote.
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Because the prodigal son returned, the fatted calf was butchered. Good news for the guilty son, bad news for the innocent calf. Why couldn't they have a vegetarian feast?
#
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
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FEEDBACK
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Do not bother reading what follows because I have said it before, and many others have said it before me.
*
Some readers tell me I make them laugh. Others say I depress them. I suggest it's not me they are talking about but our reality.
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I wish I were a comedian. The ability to make people laugh at themselves I consider one of the rarest of all gifts.
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We all have our share of failings, limitations, and blind spots. In religious parlance, we are all sinners, including saints. That's Naregatsi's message, in case you are not willing to take my word for it. With one difference. Some of us pretend otherwise, and they happen to be the worst, and it's their awareness of their condition that makes them compensate by assuming a holier-than-thou stance.
*
To my critics I say, criticize, if you must, the incompetence of our political leaders, the values of our merchants, the dogmas of our bishops, and the double-talk of our superpatriotic bloodsuckers. Do not shoot our critics, who like piano players in western saloons, are doing their best.
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AMERICANISMS
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“What's your racket?”
“I am not a crook.”
“Do bears xxxx in the forest?”
“Does the Pope speak Latin?”
And the other day in a movie:
“Does the Pope xxxx in the forest?”
#
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
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SKELETONS IN THE CUPBOARD
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FIRST NATION?
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Love our enemies?
We can't even stop hating one another.
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EITHER / OR?
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“Do you think of yourself as a success or a failure?”
Very much like the overwhelming majority of my fellow men, I think of myself as a working stiff.
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MIRACLES
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There are two kinds of miracles:
(one) useless – like walking on water; and
(two) dangerous – like promoting alcoholism by turning water into wine.
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MEMOIRS
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One reason I went into writing is that I hate working for nonentities who expect you to behave like a lesser nonentity – and all for minimum wage. I know now that writing for Armenians is no different – minus the minimum wage, of course.
*
WINNERS AND LOSERS
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“Just because you are a loser, it doesn't follow so is the nation. Stop projecting!”
I think of myself as someone who speaks of reality in an environment dominated by propagandists who speak of fantasy, which allows them to see moral victory in military defeat, and a Higher Truth in a Big Lie.
#

Mr. Baliozian, you write: "what is the penalty for being wrong ?"
That's the reason why in France we asked for a law that punish the negationists of armenian genocide (since there is already a law that punish those who deny the shoah). The French Parlement voted that law for the Armenians but suddenly the historians signed a petition saying that only them had the right to say if a lie is a lie.And now we want the Senat to vote our law, As the Nationalists Turks say that the Armenians have killed 4 millions turks. So now we don't know if the Senat will accept to vote that law.

[Kiffer]

Re: elegy

I quote: "Let others say armenian nightmare" I am armenian, my name is Louise Sarian, i never do nightmare as I know one day the truth will win. I will not see it maybe, but my chifren will. But will
they care about it ?

[arabaliozian]

101

Sunday, May 31, 2009
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FUNNY BUSINESS
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Almost every other day our local paper prints a letter critical of its editorial policy. By contrast, our weeklies pretend not to have a policy, or if they do, it has only two criteria: truth and excellence. I dare you not to see any humor in this.
*
At one time or another I have offended Christians, xxxs, Muslims, Hindus, dupes, fanatics, nationalists, communists, capitalists, racists, propagandists, lawyers, and chief executive officers, and by my rough estimate, several billion people. Why should I be surprised if so far I have failed to acquire the status of a best-selling author?
*
If I repeat myself it may be because no one minds repeating “I love you” to the person s/he loves. Why should you mind if I say and repeat, I hate charlatans, bloodsuckers, and idiots who parade as leaders of men? -- unless of course you are one of them.
*
I don't write about labels, I write about human beings and if most of them are Armenian it may be because I know them and myself better than I know the rest of mankind. I have at no time hidden the fact that in my formative years I was as big a dupe of our propaganda as those I now ridicule. You might say therefore that I attack and expose not just fools but also my former self.
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Truth sets you free only in theory. In practice it destroys an important fraction of your self. That is why it is ruthlessly shunned by most.
*
Plot for a play: two characters agree to achieve perfection by exposing each other's failings, and they end up destroying themselves.
#
Monday, June 1, 2009
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EDUCATION BY INDOCTRINATION
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Education by indoctrination should be a criminal offense. The only reason it isn't is that everybody does it and no one seems to mind.
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There is in all of us an infantile need to believe in lies and when no one deceives us, we deceive ourselves.
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As a child he was taught to speak the truth, and when the Turkish police came and wanted to know where was his uncle's hiding place, he said “In the well,” and he took them there.
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When God asked Cain where was his brother Abel (as if He didn't know), Cain replied, “Am I then my brother's keeper?”
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We are told violence in movies begets violence in life. What about intolerance in organized religions and ideologies? How many violent movies did Cain see? Was Genghis Khan influenced by John Wayne, and Napoleon by Brando?
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The Republicans (most of them White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) are now calling the Hispanic Supreme Court nominee a “racist.” They forget that for more than a hundred years Supreme Court Justices (most of them WASPs) legitimized slavery and racism in America. These WASPs! – they sure know how to take care of their own. That may well be the secret of their success. You may now guess what is the secret of our failure.
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Question to our Turcocentric ghazetajis: “Does it ever occur to you that you may be barking up the wrong tree?”
#
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
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SUCCESS
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Give a man the best education money can buy and a position of great responsibility and end up with an assh*le who thinks he deserves a fat bonus just for pulling his xxxx.
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Some readers disagree with me not because they find my arguments defective but because they think I stand between them and their chances to achieve success.
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There is a saying in Hollywood: “Success is relative, the closer the relative, the greater the success.”
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If we think what we are told to think, are we (brain)dead or alive? And if we are alive, is our life worth living?
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When I hear someone use the word “culture” I immediately assume he means his particular brand of barbarism.
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We say Naregatsi is our Dante and Shakespeare combined, but whereas Italian and English children can quote lines from Dante and Shakespeare, I have yet to hear a single Armenian boy or girl, or adult for that matter, quote a single solitary line by Naregatsi.
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We brag about our culture but we prefer to speak about massacres, as if being massacred were a great achievement.
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When your whole life is a big blunder, you hate like hell anyone who dares to suggest you may have made a mistake.
#
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
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DIPLOMACY 101
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The Turks know better what happened if only because they know both sides of the story, unlike us who know only our side. They have a better grasp of world history too if only because they ran an empire for six hundred years. Which means they speak a language that is accessible to other empires. All they have to say to the Americans is, “Armenians are our Indians,” and all Americans have to do is think: “What if in time of war when our very existence may well be in peril our ethnic minorities behave like the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I?” Which may also explain why the Soviets opposed all talk of Genocide recognition.
When our first foreign minister visited Ankara and mentioned the Genocide, the Turks said, “This man hates us. We can't negotiate with him.” Our president agreed and immediately replaced him. He understood that you can't call a man a murderer and a barbarian and expect him to behave like a civilized human being.
Were the Turks murderers and barbarians? Yes, of course. No doubt about that. Even the murder of a single innocent human being is an act of barbarism. But that's in civilian parlance which has nothing to do with the semantics of diplomacy.
If the Turks behaved like bloodthirsty barbarians, so did the rest of mankind before, during, and after our Tragedy. We cannot educate, reform, and persuade mankind into behaving like the civilizations they pretend to be. We can only deal with them in such a way as to defend and protect our interests. So far we have failed to do so perhaps because we are not as smart as we pretend to be.
#

[Sako]

Re: elegy

Do you answer anyone, Mr. B?

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Do you answer anyone, Mr. B?

everything i write is an answer to a specific question.

[arabaliozian]

Re: elegy

Sunday, June 7, 2009
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LESSONS
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In his Anatolian impressions, Lord Kinross (the future biographer of Kemal) mentions meeting some elderly Turks who bragged about teaching us (Armenians) a lesson during World War I that we would never forget. One could say, it is now their turn to learn they can't get away with murder – though if it were up to me, I would be reluctant to teach them anything if only because people who cling to their ignorance will have to learn the hard way, and the longer it takes the harder the lesson is bound to be.
But then, consider the absurdity of our own situation. We are trying to teach the Turks a lesson that the mighty of this world have consistently refused to learn (hence their unpopularity, gradual disintegration and inevitable downfall) even as we go about refusing to learn a more obvious lesson, namely that a house divided against itself cannot stand (hence our status as perennial losers).
#
Monday, June 8, 2009
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ON A NUMBER OF THINGS
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Intolerance is almost always a byproduct of a misguided idealism or a phony orthodoxy. But I am beginning to suspect that's not our problem. Our problem, our real problem, is mediocrity and its twin, opportunism.
*
We have a thousand voices supporting Genocide recognition but not a single whisper in defense of free speech.
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Man thrives on good food, good sex, and bad ideas.
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We speak like parrots, drink like fish, eat like pigs, fight like dragons, live in asphalt jungles, and we call ourselves civilized human beings.
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If a better world is ever discovered in the universe, we will do to it what we did to America and its Indians.
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Human nature continues to elude me. No matter how hard I try I cannot understand why millions of people are fascinated by individuals who hit a ball with a modified stick.
#
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
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WITH MALICE TOWARD SOME,
WITH CHARITY FOR ALL
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My explanations are mine and no one else's. They apply only to my own brand of ignorance. If you agree with me, it may be because we share the same area of darkness. If you disagree with me, it may be because you are already in possession of your own explanations. In which case I can only warn you not to be taken in by flat-earth theories. Don't let appearances deceive you. The most obvious explanation may also be the most misleading. Remember, it is not the sun that revolves around the earth even if the Holy Scriptures (the Word of God) and the Pope of Rome said so and repeated for more than a thousand years. And if I repeat myself, it may be because I cannot reconcile myself to the fact that those who pretend to be wiser are no better than damn fools whose number one concern is not the welfare of the people but their infallibility, which is nothing but a mirage, an illusion, a figment of their imagination, and a Big Lie. We have been and continue to be at the mercy of bunglers who would rather preside over the destruction of the nation than give up even an invisible fraction of their powers and privileges.
#
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
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THE SCUM OF THE EARTH
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If you lose a friend on account of political differences, it maybe because he wasn't a good friend to begin with. I speak from experience. I have lost several friends because in their view I was on the wrong side of a political issue and their side happened to be infallible. To them I say, “Good riddance!”
*
It is a mistake to identify patriotism with a specific regime. I have nothing against patriotism provided it is willing to expose the swine at the top. As for the kind of patriotism that sings of the eternal snows of Mt. Ararat, I can only say, “Nothing further, your Honor.”
*
Believers in one God (Christians, Muslims, xxxs) should develop a consensus if they want to be believed.
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I consider fascination with royalty a branch of zoology. The first and only thing I think when Prince Charles is mentioned is that he doesn't squeeze his own toothpaste on his toothbrush. The queen? She reminds of an aunt. As for the princesses: I am reminded of an old friend who when asked to name his favorite actor, he mentioned several familiar names. When asked to name his favorite actress, he said, “All of them!”
*
Stendhal: “All my life I have always seen what I imagined rather than reality.” There is an element of wishful thinking in all thinking. Propagandists know this and do their utmost to exploit it, and the more successful they are, the greater the distance between us and reality.
#

[Sako]

Re: elegy

everything i write is an answer to a specific question.

Which question(s)? On many occasions, you seem to be ignoring everyone no matter what they say! I hope that's not where you get your inspiration from. And frankly speaking, at times, it's hard to understand what your talking about or what your trying to say! I don't mean to offend you or anything. Please don't understand me the wrong way. Your a writer, I respect that, so am I and I love writing, but your posts aren't exatly very clear if you don't mind me saying so.

[jgk3]

Re: elegy

Which question(s)? On many occasions, you seem to be ignoring everyone no matter what they say! I hope that's not where you get your inspiration from. And frankly speaking, at times, it's hard to understand what your talking about or what your trying to say! I don't mean to offend you or anything. Please don't understand me the wrong way. Your a writer, I respect that, so am I and I love writing, but your posts aren't exatly very clear if you don't mind me saying so.

Maybe he wants to be read like a book, and not so much as a fellow forumer. So if I feel like I'm being addressed to by a passage in a book, I don't need a "dear jgk3" as a confirmation, the same seems to be the case with ara's writing here. The only difference is that he does read our responses.

[Sako]

Re: elegy

...and answers us like a book, not like a person. No wonder people misunderstand him so much. Or maybe he doesn't really care. He's just here to say whatever he wants to say. I have no problems with that. I just thought he actually wanted people to understand him. In that case, I think he should talk more and act like a fellow forumer who both reads and responds properly to other forumers instead of acting like a wall that won't answer you no matter what you do ... or answer you with riddles instead.

What I sense in Mr. B's writing is that he likes to say many things with one sentence and although that's very good, I don't think ALL his posts should be written that way. Ameninch chap u sahman uni. It makes them hard to understand and many start to misunderstand him. Don't mean to offend, I have no reason to. Hope you understood me correctly !