I won't be going back to HTLAL

[daegga]

If striving for knowledge and education is political, then language learning is too. The forum rules state we should not discuss politics. I think we can allow ourselves to be a bit political. Rules are fuzzy by intention.

[Hrhenry]

"Playing devil's advocate" could be considered religious propagana, as it can imply a belief in some supernatural beings.

Some language discussion! A lot of language currently in use started out as religious expressions, but have since morphed into something unrelated. Just as I don't think I'm actually annointed when I sneeze and someone says "bless you", there's no evil underworld fallen Angel that I side with when using the idiom.

R.
==

[Takra jenai]

So now, it's anti-religious propaganda.

[aokoye]

So now, it's anti-religious propaganda.

No, now it is a secular phrase. There are plenty of phrases in English that are derived from religious ideas that are now no longer related to them. Unless you want to get into etymology, it's really that simple. And by "simple" I mean it's one of those truths that you have to accept when learning idioms.

[Hrhenry]

So now, it's anti-religious propaganda.

I'm guessing now you're just trolling, but no.

R.
==

[Takra jenai]

Why not having some fun while we're waiting for Godot, I mean the Old Admin.

[emk]

The goal of the "No politics" rule is to keep the peace, not to eradicate every last hint of anything vaguely political from the forum. For example, if you had a political question on your CEFR exam, you're welcome to mention it and talk about how the exam went. If you attended a Mormon language school for missionary work, you're welcome to talk about the curriculum. (That would be really interesting, actually.) If somebody travelling to a country needs some advice on how to remain safe amid massive protests, you can share that advice. If you tried using parallel texts with the Bible (or the Book of Going Forth by Day), you're allowed to tell us how it worked.

If you think somebody else is being too political, there are three generally productive things you do:

1. Ignore it.
2. Report it to the moderators, and we'll take a look.
3. Say, "Hey, this thread it getting off topic, can we talk about language learning?"

It is not generally useful to start a long discussion about whether or not somebody's slightly semi-political comment was political or not.

Also, if you've been banned from HTLAL in the past for trolling or for constantly arguing about politics, please see the policy for reapplying for a new account after having been banned. Sneaking back under a new identity does not fool anyone, and it does not mean that the moderators will start the whole warning process over again under a new name. Patuco's usual rules are in effect:

MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS
It is forbidden to register multiple accounts on this forum. If you do this, they will all be terminated. If you were banned and want to join again, send an email to one of the moderators about it, otherwise the new account will be terminated as before.

So if you've been banned before, now would be an excellent time to contact the moderators, tell us what your old user name was, and ask us for permission to have your account reinstated.

Unfortunately, I think this thread has drifted hopelessly off-topic, so I'm locking it.