(no subject)

What's the proper response on TradeMe when you leave someone *very polite* neutral feedback for items that were frankly not as you expected, including the phrase "seller was handicapped by not knowing X", and the seller responds by flipping out and saying "DO YOU NO WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE HANDICAPPED? I DON'T TAKE THAT LIGHTLY. DON'T TRADE WITH ME AGAIN."? (I ended up apologising - but I'm not sure how I could have phrased that in a way that doesn't offer an insult - that was the most neutral phrasing I could come up with. The closest synonym to handicapped in this context is "struggled with" and frankly that seems nasty to me.) Am I completely wrong? Are people who talk about golf handicaps being insensitive? Can the word handicapped no longer be used without presenting an insult? (I mean - I am usually totally onboard with changing meanings of words and, for example, find the "that's so gay" construction offensive as well as puerile. But I had felt that handicapped in the context I used it in retains its original meaning.)

(no subject)

So I was bored this afternoon and downloaded the premiere of Project Runway: Australia which, oh my god, I don't know what I was thinking but so far it's AMAZING. [This is to be imagined in a classically broad Aussie accent] "My friends say I'm like champagne on heels! I design beautiful clothes for beautiful women!" So ugly women should just wear sacks, right? "I was a soldier in the Israeli army for four years. I LOVE fashion." *dies* unbelievable. Actually I think my fave bit is all the different accents - actually, I enjoy that about all the PRs, especially brit and aus. Aus has some pretty familiar Sydneysiders (my mother's sister and one of her brothers, not to mention five of my cousins, live in Australia, and they all lived in Sydney until a year or two ago.) and all sorts of other things too - I'm hoping for something exotic and melbournian.

ETA: "I own a frock shop." *sigh* god, I love the colonies. I believe only new zealanders and australians older than 45 use the word frock anymore, which has an entertainment value all of its own, and then you add the accent. (You know what's really funny? No-one other than new zealanders and australians can really tell the difference in our accents, but I find it so different it's incredibly comic and entertaining. Perhaps it's the proximity - so much about our accents are similar that the differences are really pointed. Or something.