This post, and the pithier original, is absolutely astonishing to me as a Brit who has lived and worked in Europe all my adult life. Now I think I see why some

This post, and the pithier original, is absolutely astonishing to me as a Brit who has lived and worked in Europe all my adult life. Now I think I see why some American-dominated FOSS communities object to my writing, and why I get hatemail, blogs and comments attacking me online, and entire threads of abuse here on HN. A light has dawned. I am not planning to change, though. Deal with it. What it is saying in pointlessly flowery language is: "Please just be direct." Spelled out: "cut the crap, don't waste my time and your words. Say what you mean." In England, where there is a strong north/south cultural divide, being very direct is seen as a stereotypically Northern attribute. In the south, especially the south-east (around the capital), people are more flowery. I'm from Lancashire, although I left young. Half my family is Irish. In my culture, speaking directly is seen as a virtue. It's a good thing. Burying your message in pointless verbiage is not polite: it's wasting time. We'd call it a "load of hot air". The expression is embedded in the title of this book: https://www.withouthotair.com/ https://www.withouthotair.com/ The author was from Newcastle, in the heard of the north-east. I regard being blunt and direct as respectful. It implies: "I think you are an adult. I appreciate that your time is valuable, so I will not waste it." I think this is the default cultural position of where I'm from. Blather, hot air, floweriness, excess verbiage: this is the stuff of professional liars, like salespeople and politicians. If someone wraps how they speak in layers of pointless drivel it means they are trying to hide what they have to say, and if they fell the need to do that, you should not trust what they say, and indeed, trust them. I am shocked and amazed that there needs to be a phrase for this in American discourse. I am nearly 60 and I never knew. I spent 3 a lot of time for 2 years in Norway, where this is normal: Norwegians are even more blunt than Northern Brits. I liked it a lot. (I recently did a very brief interview with a Norwegian senior civil servant for work and he was full of praise for my Norwegian.) I like the people, I like the place, I like the manners. Example here: https://nlsnorwayrelocation.no/the-unwritten-rules-of-norwegian-social-etiquette/ https://nlsnorwayrelocation.no/the-unwritten-rules-of-norweg... Czechs are even more blunt. I like it. As a beginner in their formidably complex language, brevity is helpful. I walk into a bar and people to go: "How many?" "Just you?" "For one?" It's great. Gets to the point, easy to understand, easy to answer. The Finns even more so. There is a Finnish comic book about this: https://yle.fi/a/3-8406344 https://yle.fi/a/3-8406344 It's also a recurrent theme of the excellent Scandinavia and the World. Apparently Chinese people admire Finnish brevity. https://satwcomic.com/manners-are-important https://satwcomic.com/manners-are-important So this is not just Europe. It's just you, America. If you need a polite way to say "cut the crap", this is a hint: you have a problem.