Re: "The conversation is about your behaviour, not my evidence free boasts."
Right, so what behavior?
What is it that you're so offended by (or so motivated by)?
Look, you've said repeatedly that I "manipulated" my own mother into giving me money: that is a story that you invented. Everything you've said about my relationship with my mother is purely fictional: I'm not angry at you, and I genuinely don't care —but you seem to be astonished when it's pointed out to you that you're not criticizing things I've actually said and done but you are, instead, criticizing fictions of your own invention.
Re: "Is it ironic when you, the fantasist, accuse me of fantasising about what you are.?"
No, I'm directly quoting things you've actually said (not done) and I'm pointing out (correctly) that they are fictional or are the result of your own fantasies. This is not what you do in criticizing me, e.g.,
Re: "You've boasted hundreds of times about your Khmer/khmai skills…"
No: I have not boasted even once, this is a lie (or a fiction or a fantasy) you've invented off of the top of your head. You don't have a single source: you're not quoting anything I've said ever (about my experience with the Cambodian language). It's possible you've never seen or read anything I've said on the topic, and it's possible that you heard something I said many years ago, and now you only half-remember it, and you're sincerely unaware of the extent to which you're inventing your own story about me (rather than recalling something I've actually said in the past).
Please, challenge yourself: look up what I've actually said (or written) about the study of the Khmer language and the level of ability I achieved. You will not find boasting: you'll find a lot of grim realism and practical warnings (and very frank admissions of how limited my ability to communicate in the language was, despite hard work, etc.).
[I will add an example, not included in the original conversation on Reddit:]
https://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.com/2012/05/pali-revival-and-survival-in-cambodia.html
BTW, so far as I know, demanding to hear me speak Lao or Khmer seems to be a new tactic on your part, if you were doing this a year ago (or many years ago) I apologize for my ignorance, but within the last few days you have said things along these lines repeatedly:
"Speak Thai with a strong Laos accent. Speak Khmer. Simple as. You're the polyglot professor. Let's hear ya."
I am currently learning Finnish: I did learn to speak, read and write Lao at some kind of intermediate level, but that was many languages ago (i.e., you could make a list of how many languages I've studied in-between Lao and Finnish, and it would be a considerable list). Have you ever asked yourself in what year I learned to speak the Lao language?
That was in 2006 and 2007: twenty years ago, in round numbers.
There is ample evidence of what I accomplished in those languages on the internet, and none of it is boasting: you can read (and hear) some very somber reflections on what it was like learning Lao in that context —and my sadness at suddenly being forced to stop learning the language —reflecting on the extent to which all that hard work was "for nothing" now that I was cut off from the pursuit of my former ambitions.
Here's an article from 2012 reflecting on my experience studying Lao, and you may well comb it for signs of narcissism, as you seem to be obsessed with proving that I have NPD:
https://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.com/2012/05/on-learning-lao-fascicle-1.html
I realize that you have no sincere interest in NPD as "a real condition", but someone with NPD could never write that article. Durianrider and I are not friends, but I've seen him having a laugh at his own expense in front of an audience that was laughing at him (not with him) and I can recognize that this would be impossible for someone with NPD —it would be their worst nightmare. People with NPD really freak out under conditions that Durianrider and I both handle causally and with a chuckle. If you think I'm a terrible person, by all means find a more productive way to criticize my behavior (something you consistently insinuate is evil without really specifying what it is that's evil about my current lifestyle, "reading Seneca and Cicero", as you say).
So, yes, 20 years ago I had some significant experience with the Lao language, and I can still tell some interesting anecdotes from that time in my life, but it would be a lot of work to revive my moment-to-moment speaking (and listening) ability in the language, and I do not now have any reason to do so (whereas, e.g., I actually did "hit the books" before each of my trips to Thailand, including the trips for the lawsuit against Durianrider, and so I was able to speak to Taxi drivers and food vendors in Lao while I was there —or in my attempt to speak Thai with a heavy Lao accent). Many people actually witnessed this and mentioned it on youtube at the time, i.e., other vegans in Chiang Mai who saw me speaking with locals in Lao/Thai. I didn't make a big deal of it because I didn't think it was remarkable: anyone who has experience living and working in the region should have some ability along those lines.
My accomplishments in those languages are only extraordinary because of the dismally low expectations created by the laziness of ordinary people: I didn't spend my time watching sports, whereas most men my age (in Laos or otherwise) did exactly that. I also didn't spend my time going to the beach or climbing mountains: generally, I was studying (the language, but also history and politics) when others were not. That does not mean there's anything superhuman or extraordinary about my accomplishments: different people make different choices with different consequences. I was invited to join the rugby team in Vientiane and I demurred. If I had joined that team, my life would have changed in many ways (I would have been socializing with Australian ex-pats very different from the friends I made hanging out at the library/archives).
I now return to the second part of your statement: "Speak Thai with a strong Laos accent. Speak Khmer. Simple as. You're the polyglot professor. Let's hear ya."
Do you have any source in which I present myself as "the polyglot professor"? It's quite possible you've only seen the titles of my videos on these subjects and you've never listened to them: I do not misrepresent my expertise in any specific language, nor in the teaching and study of languages, generally. The name of the channel, "monolingual polyglot", is a joke about my own lack of expertise: after studying so many languages, I've ended up as a monolingual. Again, you will find that people with NPD do not make such jokes at their own expense (not even in rap music and —for better or worse— I have been willing to record rap songs ridiculing myself, due to a lack of narcissism, I suppose).
The advice offered by some other polyglots is outrageously bad, and anyone with experience studying languages can (and should) criticize it: no, for example, 15 minutes per day isn't enough, and one hour per day isn't enough, either. In recent videos I've pointed out the impact on your marriage that studying just one foreign language could have, given that it's more than one hour per day: that is a "blindingly obvious" observation that any reasonable person could offer —it doesn't entail that I misrepresent myself as "a polyglot professor".
Now, by contrast, Steve Kaufmann really does present himself as an expert and "a polyglot professor", while trying to sell you a product, and I've criticized him (both recently and several years ago) with the claims he's made about his expertise (and fluency) in mind. So, yes, I understand what you're trying to do here, as a critic, but as always, you need to work from the historical record of what I've actually said and done.
If you "stay tuned" you will indeed hear me speaking Finnish (presumably quite badly, as I struggle with the most basic elements of the language) but it doesn't seem plausible that I would now (suddenly) return to the study of Lao or Khmer. It's not entirely impossible, but there would need to be some compelling reason (personal or political) that is difficult to imagine or foresee.
