From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jun 1 04:26:47 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F1BA137B401 for ; Sun, 1 Jun 2003 04:26:45 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mailout07.sul.t-online.com (mailout07.sul.t-online.com [194.25.134.83]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 67C9743FE1 for ; Sun, 1 Jun 2003 04:25:24 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from calvin8@t-online.de) Received: from fwd06.sul.t-online.de by mailout07.sul.t-online.com with smtp id 19MQxg-0003Zl-0E; Sun, 01 Jun 2003 13:25:16 +0200 Received: from 80.130.242.16 (320015578311-0001@[80.130.242.16]) by fwd06.sul.t-online.com with esmtp id 19MQxY-0VjlyqC; Sun, 1 Jun 2003 13:25:08 +0200 Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2003 13:25:41 +0200 From: calvin8@t-online.de (Andi Scharfstein) X-Mailer: The Bat! (v1.61) X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Message-ID: <163227373843.20030601132541@myrealbox.com> To: Tim Vanderhoek In-Reply-To: <20030601060733.GA31655@turquoise> References: <3ECD3A8C.1040506@potentialtech.com> <00ae01c32668$2ff5ad70$2441d5cc@nitanjared> <20030531072026.O33085@welearn.com.au> <20030530213625.GA41089@wopr.caltech.edu> <20030601113948.G33085@welearn.com.au> <20030601060733.GA31655@turquoise> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Sender: 320015578311-0001@t-dialin.net cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: grammar X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Andi Scharfstein List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 01 Jun 2003 11:26:47 -0000 Hi, > On Sun, Jun 01, 2003 at 04:13:29AM +0200, Andi Scharfstein wrote: > [...] >> encountering this thread. I also spoke with a few people today, two of >> which had spent a year in the US. They all agreed that the meaning of >> "In case X, do Y" (that's what I asked, verbatim) was "If X occurs, do >> Y", so it's not just me. > You need to be careful how you ask that question. I, as a native North > American English speaker, would have to accept both meanings as almost > equally valid. However, depending on how you asked the question, I > might not give that as my answer... Well, that certainly was a well thought-out and detailed explanation, to which I can only say that I fully agree. Only, like I said, I didn't know about the distinction you both pointed out prior to encountering this thread, so there's your problem. About biasing people towards what I want to hear from them: All I asked them was to translate the above quote. As in: "We have a discussion on a ML I'm on, I'd like to hear your opinion about it. How would you translate 'In case X, do Y' to German?" The reason I chose that phrase was that it was the original one that set off this discussion. On an afterthought, I should also have asked them about the various cases you pointed out. Oh well. -- Bye: Andi S. mailto:nullpointer@myrealbox.com