I’ve always used it as…
Those who can, design but those who can’t design, teach and those that can’t teach become project managers (or depending on the audience, developers)
I find that when offending people in IT it’s best to cast a wide net.
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I’ve always thought the phrase was (at least as used in music circles) those who can’t play, become critics. Perhaps better would be: those who don’t do, 'splain how it ought to be done.
Plenty of teachers out there who also ‘do’ (esp at University level), and beyond that, being a teacher is, imo, more important and harder than writing non-critical software (and my wife, a PM at MS X-Box, would agree) and many other things people do for a living for much more money (myself included).
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It seems to me that being an effective teacher calls for different levels of certain skills than are used in other professions. Among other things, teachers require high levels of patience and empathy, characteristics sometimes lacking in some of the most successful titans of technology and business. I tried teaching college years ago, and found I just didn’t have the patience to do it well.
So, yeah, I don’t like the “those who can, do…” joke. It really says more about the person making the joke, than anything else.
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To be clear Bill, it was not meant as a joke. 
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Umrage on the rise? Having read most of most posts (87 so far), I say it seems so.
I’m a satisfied user. I have simple demands and they are met by Roon. I pay my licence because of this and because there are some really clever, knowledgable and helpful folks who can help sort out a problem. They also provide insightful feedback to the Roon product team to help improve it. I am glad they do that because I can’t but I benefit.
Keep it up but be nice.
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This is the sort of comment I really don’t understand, it shows a complete lack of empathy for another human being. Why post it?
You are obviously a very intelligent bloke I just can’t get my head around the lack of empathy for another person or why you would want to belittle someone. You have no idea what they have been through or suffered in their life.
You put a smiley after it as if the comment was in jest but its a passive aggressive thing. Don’t get me wrong I grew up on the factory floor at a car plant in the good old English “p@#s taking eighties” and I still love a good p@#s take with my friends but comments like this are what the whole thread is about.
I’m sorry if this is seen as a personal attack. Mods please feel free to do your job.
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I think that was probably my post, which I subsequently deleted.
Yes, in hindsight, I agree it wasn’t constructive.
Pre COVID-19, I would have let it wash.
We are living in unprecedented times - many people are struggling on vastly reduced incomes while some have lost their livelihoods entirely.
My best friend is a very good engineer. After 2 spells of furlough, his employer laid off most of the staff, himself included As a stop gap, he’s earning minimum wage as a hospital cleaner.
My brother-in-law was furloughed, and then laid off from a very well-paid job as an account manager. His key client is a name few people on the planet won’t have heard of.
Our really friendly, kind and considerate neighbour was laid off 6 months ago and still can’t find paid employment.
Our local, community owned pub may never reopen.
Our favourite local restaurant is struggling to stay in business.
Life is harder than ever for a lot of people right now. Bragging about having more than the average annual salary tied up in hifi and having an expensive German sports car on the drive is a little insensitive/inconsiderate at present don’t you think?
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Yeah, a lot of the comfortable world is seeing what other people live with day in and day out, and it’s not helping anyone’s temperament.
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Thank you Graeme, all very well points that resonate with my own (family and friends) experience of Covid.
In this thread I have made a plea for, what might be called, “understandable venting”. Sometimes life (and other people’s posts) really p**s a person off. In an ideal world we’d all sit back and relax. In the real world we post in haste. Let’s extend a bit of understanding in to those situations.
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I think too we might try to empathize a bit with those who seem themselves to be lacking in empathy. It’s a talent, and not everyone has it. Must be a hard life, not understanding others.
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Fair comment Bill and of course you are right. Point taken.
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I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment on building connections. It humanises us to each other. Once peripheral facts, or even downright divergent facts come out about others, the connection establishes. It does diffuse the feelings one may have had from a historical exchange. Any discussion that provides context and personalisation will strengthen EQ on both sides.
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in product design… the latter group translates to “marketing advisors”
when, some 30 years ago, founders of “italian design” firms (Alessi, Zanotta and the like) begun being replaced by their sons/daughters these where always showing up at new product briefings accompanied by… the greatest id##ts I recall at the Architecture Faculty as fellow students. yes: these all became marketing advisors/general consultants
OK, I cannot actually believe we are going to do this, but here goes.
The thread is about “umbrage on the rise” so firstly check for context and irony. OK?
Then @danny posted an offhand comment about one of the oldest and most used idioms in existence and how he’d got into hot water because of it. Why had he got into hot water about it? Had the person who took offense never heard of it? Does it not cross international boundaries?
Does anyone mean anything by it? No, of course not. It’s just a mildly amusing old trope . If someone thinks it’s an actual attack on teachers they must be the most literal person on the internet.
Then there followed the daftest and most earnest exchange of several posts about how teachers are valued. I mean come on, why does it even need to be discussed? The whole thing is hilarious!
Then someone who knows a teachers or has one in the family (and who doesn’t?) got offended on their behalf!
It’s all mad, and it goes back to what I said earlier about people being ridiculously wound up on this site.
This points precisely back to the thread title. I don’t even know what to say here. 
It’s completely out of context with what I wrote and, well, I don’t even (as the kids say).
And there we go - I’ve now added to the pointlessly circular and earnest umbrage explosion. If I could personally change anything about these forums it would be to ask people to dial back on the manufactured outrage.
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I don’t recall anybody expressing that they were offended or outraged. What followed the comments was a good tempered exchange of thoughts and reflections on teaching and humour. We can disagree with one another’s choice of humour and language without being offended or outraged.
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Well, now we have post deletions so
I probably just manufactured it during one of my many lockdown fugue-state moments.
You may be referring to my post that I deleted. I deleted my post because the conversation was continued over PM.
Just for clarity though, here is the post
At no point did I say that I was offended by the comment. I wasn’t offended in the slightest. At no point did I say that I was outraged by the commented. I wasn’t outraged in the slightest.
Again, I repeat, we can challenge one another without being offended or outraged. I’m not sure why you’ve introduced the words “offence” and “outrage” to what was, in fact, a reasonable exchange. I even added in a touch of humour at the end to lighten the context.
Where’s my Jed Bartlett banging his head on the table gif?
Isn’t this part of the problem that’s been addressed on this thread? Why post things if your subsequent response is going to a witty one-liner rather than a reasonable engagement?