Wikipedia:Stoopid or lyin'
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 | This page in a nutshell: You can't include an insult by using "or", you can't choose the bad word instead of the good, and expect to be WP:CIVIL |
We've all done it. Someone comes out with something outrageous, they couldn't be more wrong - nobody in their right mind could believe it. They must be either stoopid or lyin'.
It's not OK[edit]
STOP! Even if you believe it, even if it is true, this or any of the million variants are personal attacks.
Firstly - AGF, they are not lying. Second ..Stupid? Ignorant? - how about "mistaken" or "wrong". Better still, how about being cooperative rather than confrontational.
- I think you are mistaken...
- The sources seem to support a different view...
- I would be interested to hear why you say that...
No really, it just isn't[edit]
- Someone justified this approach as "it is true it is a tautology" - on that basis he could have said "ignorant or lying or a racist" for example. Not helpful.
- Adding adjectives generally makes it a worse insult "deliberately lying" "appallingly ignorant" - maybe "slightly ignorant" is less cutting, but "ignorant" is widely perceived as an insult.
Especially because[edit]
Sometimes they turn out to be right!
Examples[edit]
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- 2 points for each real life entry by another editor you find using this trope dated 2013 or later.
- 10 points for every example of me (RF) using it - and I fear I probably have.
- "either ignorant of the way that the judiciary interpret laws, or deliberately lying"