At 22 Nov 2007 08:17:59 -1000 f wrote:

> I find it exceedingly amusing when people say what they aren't going to do
> and then before you can blink they go ahead and do it. I've been guilty of
> that myself many a time. May we all be aware of this tendency and strive to
> avoid it.
>
> Example #1 (from a msg. in our archive): "Not to be argumentative, but I
> don't agree with ...[followed by several paragraphs of argument]"

Well, it's a sad day for the Pali collective when our scholarly debate proves to be little more than humour for a lurker named f.

Considering that being argumentative means taking up an argument just for the sake of it, not simply any disagreement whatsoever (in this case, based on a strong concern that an ancient Buddhist treatise was being maligned), perhaps you could avoid superfluous argument by explaining the contradiction in prefixing a disagreement with a statement denying that the speaker was simply "fond of arguing" (Oxford, 1949).

And, back on track, "mettaa" means "the friendliness", "metta" means "o friendliness!", and "mettaaya" means "with friendliness".

Best wishes,

Yuttadhammo