Re: Translation challenge: Would you go out with me?

On 11/28/06, Mark Reed <markjreed@...> wrote:
> Fwiw, this native Anglophone would never interpret "would you [like
> to] go out with me?" as anything other than a one-time invitation.
FWIW, this 20-something native Anglophone speaker can *only* interpret
"would you go out with me?" as a request to be someone's girl- or
boyfriend.

However, in thinking about it, I haven't actually heard that specific
phrase since high school. I suppose that as an adult, I might have
some confusion as to whether the other adult meant it in the high
school sort of way, or in the slightly more literal go-on-one-date
sort of way.

As you say:
> While "they are going out" can readily mean "they are involved in a
> romantic relationship", that's not how you would ask someone to enter
> into such a relationship.   You might ask someone to "go with you" or
> "go steady with you", but those are asociated with adolescence (with
> its relatively limited opportunities for proper dating).  Adults would
> presumably start with the isolated invitation and let the level of
> involvement increase naturally over time...
Which is precisely what I concluded after thinking about it a bit
more. Interesting, then, that I am observing my own sociolinguistic
change from adolescence to proper adulthood. :)


--
AA

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