Re: Weekly Vocab Fifteenish

Roger Mills scripsit:

> Very much cultural.. They pride themselves on their politeness,
> correct/courtly behavior, harmonious social relations..
> So they don't say "no", or at least very seldom.  You say "yes", but then
> either don't carry out the request at all, or perhaps make only a pro-forma
> effort, so that it gets botched or fails. (My prejudices may be showing...).
I understand that it's also taboo to answer a request for information with
"I don't know", and that the result of asking someone for directions may be that
they concoct the answer out of whole cloth.

--
John Cowan  www.ccil.org/~cowan  www.reutershealth.com  jcowan@reutershealth.com
"'My young friend, if you do not now, immediately and instantly, pull
as hard as ever you can, it is my opinion that your acquaintance in the
large-pattern leather ulster' (and by this he meant the Crocodile) 'will
jerk you into yonder limpid stream before you can say Jack Robinson.'"
        --the Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake