From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Oct 18 04:32:18 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6AB6A1065672 for ; Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:32:18 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rwmaillists@googlemail.com) Received: from mail-ew0-f218.google.com (mail-ew0-f218.google.com [209.85.219.218]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EC00E8FC12 for ; Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:32:17 +0000 (UTC) Received: by ewy18 with SMTP id 18so2934544ewy.43 for ; Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:32:17 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=googlemail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:date:from:to:subject :message-id:in-reply-to:references:x-mailer:mime-version :content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=HJS9KThL2zIlmWOWp/y+ddY72qKqhpvQK35prfNg6tY=; b=WUyQlWq8gxFIbBBCDFeKyU1WGE8fB30n1CmlpQ7z9XZ/VCojnIDIwsVUNMhTxL3mTh OqbKz77h53JNLxyr7CNHLZH+2UVXc+rvZfoRJJZftOxdMrpUWfyScKWfwbhs0iuRgj75 fw/1tA+K18VZX/U6z/AgEatu9m7sjsg5qaQAc= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=googlemail.com; s=gamma; h=date:from:to:subject:message-id:in-reply-to:references:x-mailer :mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=qd/5BlJp2Ey8aGn7v/BevI77w+y9c+0uT4HqXoXXaZNgTb7KlHpEFle9uJzGf+l8LZ RKfuw+RLyVFmYabbClhOtoEG1J4M9TCnebLvhZk7RgjYYpf48ID/cjioMtCptUFUoDys Axk284qykkewhUK5WADW7oaaVaqtotBbuVwBM= Received: by 10.216.89.11 with SMTP id b11mr1150575wef.171.1255840336763; Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:32:16 -0700 (PDT) Received: from gumby.homeunix.com (bb-87-81-140-128.ukonline.co.uk [87.81.140.128]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id i35sm8422319gve.28.2009.10.17.21.32.15 (version=SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Sat, 17 Oct 2009 21:32:15 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:32:12 +0100 From: RW To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20091018053212.60b6ea4d@gumby.homeunix.com> In-Reply-To: <20091017034952.GA26451@stainmore> References: <4AD8EB8F.9010900@videotron.ca> <20091017010758.088b8b8c.freebsd@edvax.de> <4AD9016E.20302@videotron.ca> <4AD90946.4020204@ibctech.ca> <4AD91DE0.3030701@videotron.ca> <200910170234.n9H2YeRI077329@asarian-host.net> <20091017034952.GA26451@stainmore> X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.7.2 (GTK+ 2.16.6; i386-portbld-freebsd7.2) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: I hate to bitch but bitch I must X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:32:18 -0000 On Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:49:52 -0400 Bob Hall wrote: > On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 02:34:40AM +0000, Mark wrote: > > Actually, this has got very little to do with being a native English > > speaker or not. It's ere a matter of intonation (which, in writing, > > can only be conveyed to a certain degree, of course). 'Should' can > > certainly mean "Don't try that." As in: > > > > Will the ice hold me? > > Well, technically it should. > > > > (Meaning: it probably will, but I'm not overly confident.) > > Actually, what's happening here is dropping part of a sentence. It's > common in English to shorten > Yea, it should work, but it doesn't. Not really, but the only sensible meaning is that it should, in an ideal world, work. It seems that people are grasping for ambiguity here. If a phrase has one sensible meaning and other absurd meanings then there really is no ambiguity all unless one is trying to be deliberately obtuse.