>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Suffering fools gladly demeans the intellectual level of the community and is therefore an anti-social act. More importantly, having to do so causes stress.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Charles, can you rephrase? I do not fully understand the first part of the first sentence.
>>>>>
>>>>>In this context it means believing what someone is saying is foolish or "utter nonsense" but having to pretend their argument is worth debating.
>>>>
>>>>Charles, believe me, I've really tried hard to understand this sentence. But I can't. I hardly dare to ask you to rephrase again.
>>>
>>>I realize this is a language issue and regards an idiom. Your English is so good it is easy to forget you are not a native speaker (though being Dutch is probably the next best thing ;-)
>>>
>>>The expression "suffer fools gladly" is an idiom - perhaps going back to Shakespeare - that means to be kind and patient in an argument even when you strongly disagree. To say that you do not "suffer (meaning here "tolerate" or "pay attention to") fools (meaning here simply people with whom you strong disagree or whose arguments you think have little logical merit) gladly" means that you find it difficult ( or stressful ;-) ) to argue with someone whose style or arguments you find annoying or not particularly interesting.
>>
>>I tried hard to get a grip at what you're saying and think I now understand the expression, esp. after ignoring the word not in do not "suffer. I can think of no Dutch equivalent expression.
>>
>>>As I am also a student of language I often find such explanations helpful as I know idiom often doesn't translate easily and as I look at this one I can easily see how it is obscure to anyone (including a lot of native English speakers) who haven't heard it used often in context.
>>
>>If I remember correctly, you teach English to new Americans, right? Idiom is indeed the next level. I have never lived in the U.S. or G.B. and I miss that level badly.
>
>I have taught English in other countries as part of my job at one time. More often it was me trying to get functional in something like Turkish or a Laotian dialect. I enjoyed it and would learn idioms the way people learn magic tricks to show off at parties. Unfortunately, sometimes when you use idioms comfortably people assume you are more fluent than you really are so you then have to learn to smile and nod at the right time as they speak far to fast with far too much slang :-)

Just like when speaking with the owner of the restaurant my daughter works at. Whenever she doesn't understand, she just smiles. She does a lot of smiling :o)

My daughter has been bringing her reading books for 8-10 year olds to help her learn English. My daughter now does nothing but sit at the cash register and answer the phone (lots of calls - it is a Chinese restaurant), and teach the owner to read English. My daughter grilled her for her citizenship exam (she passed and is now a citizen), speaks with delivery companies on her behalf, and helped her study her credit report (go figure), etc. One night my daughter called me to explain the different terms used on the credit report she was helping the owner to understand. I figure my daughter knows more about their lives than they do now :o)

Next month their daughter comes over from China. They haven't seen her for 2 years. Following that they are going to try and bring their parents over.

They are a great family. Plus, I get a LOT of free Chinese food! :o) The real stuff too, not just the stuff on the 'American Chinese' food menu. :o)