Thanks Chris, Greg and Tim.
Tim- What! You dare to suggest that I not preserve maximum lack of detail in this image?
Well, yeah- you're right, I should not .
And if I weren't a lazy old goat I probably would not .
Chris- think of it this way: two negatives makes a positive. So do four negatives, six, eight, etc.
One negative equals a negative. So do three, five, seven, nine, etc.
That way, no matter how silly the jokesters get, they (I ) won't be able to fool you.
However, it's still possible to get confused by Americans' (often) bad speech; i.e. we often speak in the negative when we don't mean it literally. Example: "Don't you want to go?"
Literally, that statement means, "Do you NOT want to go?"
But what most Americans mean when they ask something like that is, "Do you want to go?"
Americans understand what is meant, but most foreigners- who speak some English- will take it literally, and they will answer the question literally, which is exactly the wrong answer according to what the American meant.
As with humor, complete understanding of the subtleties of English (by people from other countries) can be quite difficult.
I assume it's the same with other languages- but I don't speak enough of another language to know.
Charlie
Thanks for the lecture, Charlie.
I might just learned something.
And I guess to make simple rules and then complicate things is a habit of every language.
Chris
CDaescher wrote:
Thanks for the lecture, Charlie.
I might just learned something.
And I guess to make simple rules and then complicate things is a habit of every language.
Chris
As I've said before, Chris- for a Swiss raised- but now living in Netherlands- you do well with English.
I think the reason language is complicated everywhere is because it's a living thing:
First comes the usage by the people. Then come the rules by those who- by their own admission- know more than the rest of us.
Within my lifetime I've observed many "evolutionary changes" in the American language.
Some I like, and some stink. But that doesn't matter in the overall pattern of things.
Soon we Americans will have our entire language based on the changing whims of teenagers .
At which point we will have to change the definition of "civilized."
Charlie
Hi Charlie, I like them both but that color one sure is awesome in it's own regard. The top of the mountain really comes to life and WOW to the beautiful blue!
Scott
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