Subj : Misinterpretation...  1.
To   : alexander koryagin
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Mon Mar 30 2020 22:30:07

Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

 ak>  Taking aside "directly" I think that the question
 ak>  "will you" demands the answer like "Yeah, I will".


           In many cases "yes" would probably be enough.  IMHO it's a courtesy 
to add a time estimate, however, in situations like this one....  :-)



 AH>  I don't know many people nowadays who would say "anon",
 AH>  as Juliet did more than four centuries ago. Either way
 AH>  I understand the intent. But since I have no idea who
 AH>  Anton's colleagues are I'd hesitate to suggest he use
 AH>  the word "yeah" or add "hang on a sec", as I might do
 AH>  with family & friends.

 ak>  Well, if you have good relations with your office
 ak>  colleges


           Usage note:  "college" and "colleague" are two different words, but 
if Anton is a college instructor his colleagues are other instructors....  :-)



 ak>  -- why not?


           My family & friends know I'm quite capable of using formal language 
if the situation requires it... so I don't have to prove anything to them, and 
I'm more inclined to speak colloquially.  In academic or business circles such 
an invitation may be a test of one's knowledge of the rules of etiquette.  ;-)



 ak>  The only thing, I think, you should not confuse them
 ak>  with very clever or tricky words.


           Agreed.  But without knowing who Anton's colleagues are, or whether 
they often use English in communication with one another, it's difficult to be 
sure what *they* might regard as unnecessarily clever or tricky words....  :-)



 ak>  I believe the trauma the Anton's college had got was
 ak>  connected exactly with such a confusion. He thought so
 ak>  hard on the word "directly" that he struck the door
 ak>  jamb with his forehead. ;-)


           I believe one of the attractions of stories like this is that we're 
simply told what happened & can't resist wondering about the reason(s).  Maybe 
Anton's colleague lost his bearings because his mind was busy figuring out how 
to interpret "directly" in this context... or maybe he had done the same thing 
so often he turned a bit too abruptly.  I have experienced both at home.  What 
comes to my mind first, however, is an incident where I happened to be present 
when of my instructors received a very similar offer from a fellow instructor. 
In the halls of academia you generally won't hear people swearing although the 
curriculum may include novels your parents wouldn't allow you to read when you 
were in high school.  For a person who overheard but didn't see what was going 
on, it might be tempting to think the offer made to Anton wasn't genuine.  :-Q




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

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