716.0_2a69b771@fidonet.org>   
   processed: spam filter heuristic analysis disabled)   
   From: "alexander koryagin"    
      
   Hi, Ardith Hinton! How are you?   
   on Wednesday, 11 of December, I read your message to alexander koryagin   
   about "Winamp version"   
      
    DM>> Do you know media player WinAmp?   
    ml>> yes but i don't think it is on topic for this area ;)   
      
    ak>> Well,  we can talk about English articles.  It  seems  we  have  a   
    ak>> missed one here: "Do you know the media player WinAmp?"   
      
      
    AH> Uh-huh.  If the  original  question  is  regarded  as  practice  in   
    AH> English, subject to correction by others, it is within the scope of   
    AH> this echo AFAIC.   
      
      It isn't important how much we speak  --  grammar  issues  are  still   
   bigger.  ;-) I believe that ["Do you know the media player WinAmp?"]  is   
   also sounds bad. I doubt mostly about "the".   
      
      Probably, it will be better to ask in this way:   
      
      [Do you know Winamp,  a media player?] or [Do you know a media player   
   called Winamp?]   
      
      Do my doubts have any ground? Maybe, your struggles "to decipher this   
   stuff" have a similar ground? ;)   
      
    AH> We've had some discussions here  about  "computer  techie"  matters   
    AH> which involve the use of spacing, punctuation,  and accent marks...   
    AH> i.e.  ways in which we can make our intentions clear to the largest   
    AH> number of people in the "global village" (within the limitations of   
    AH> our keyboards in particular & of Fidonet in general). Perhaps Denis   
    AH> is using WinAmp to listen to songs with English lyrics...  I  don't   
    AH> know.  If I did, I might be tempted to add that I don't always find   
    AH> it easy to decipher this stuff even in my own native language!  But   
    AH> my point is that detailed answers about xxx program might  best  be   
    AH> found elsewhere.   
      
      In Russia WinAmp player a very popular software to play  mp3  tracks.   
   Do you  know  that  many  Russian  fidonet  folks  (when  writing  their   
   messages) use a special plugin which adds a line  at  the  bottom  of  a   
   message which says that "now my Winamp plays xxxx.mp3" It looks cool. If   
   they don't listen to music  the  last  line  will  be  like  this:  "np:   
   [silence]... (Winamp is not active)" ;-)   
      
    AH> Have I told you lately that I'm  impressed  with  your  diplomacy??   
    AH> Give yourself a gold star,  or two or  three  to  make  up  for  my   
    AH> ex-Brit reticence. ;-)   
      
      I really don't know what you are talking about.  ;) Often,  I talk  a   
   lot just with intention to speak as much as  possible  and  provoke  the   
   people to do the same.  We are learning to speak after all, and we can't   
   make a go of it without practicing our skill.   
      
   [...Feci, quod potui, faciant miliora potentes]   
   Bye Ardith!   
   Alexander (yAlexKo[]yandex.ru) + 2:5020/2140.91   
   fido7.english-tutor 2013    
      
      
      
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