Re: can-may

The may/can debate is one of a number of pet peeves.

"can" of course describes ability
"may" indicates conjecture.
"May I have a glass of water?" While polite, also lives that possibility
that one may not have a glass of water. Think in terms of subjuntive mood.
There is a element of unknown, we don't know the outcome of the condition.

BTW, IIRC, the debate rages on in German as well with "koennen" (can) and
"duerfen" (may). I remember my grade 8 German teacher having to teach us
"can" and "may" in English before we understood koennen und duerfen.
We may never grasp this 100% but we certainly can grasp it.
Scott
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Constructed Languages List [mailto:CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU]On
> Behalf Of John Cowan
> Sent: Monday, December 27, 2004 11:23 AM
> To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU
> Subject: Re: can-may
>
>
> Sally Caves scripsit:
>
> > Both Barry and I came up with the identical sarcastic response that is
> > legion in America.  "Can I have some butter?"  "I don't know, can you"?
> > It's a joke!  But it's deeply engrained in polite America, and,
> I gather,
> > polite England, and polite Canada.  And probably polite
> Australia.  I would
> > never, addressing my hostess at a formal dinner, say "Can I
> have some more
> > coffee?" any more than I would use the "tu" form with someone I
> just met in
> > Geneva.
>
> In one of Isaac Asimov's Black Widowers stories, Emmanuel Rubin (modeled
> on Lester Del Rey) claims that while this may be true in someone's home,
> the prescriptively correct form in a restaurant is "Can I?", because
> in a restaurant (where the Black Widowers meet) the question you want
> answered is not permission (you *may* have anything you can pay for)
> but possibility (has the coffee run out?)
>
> Coffee isn't a good example for this, to be sure.  "Can I have some
> venison?"  would be more like it.
>
> --
> Principles.  You can't say A is         John Cowan
> <jcowan@...>
> made of B or vice versa.  All mass      http://www.reutershealth.com
> is interaction.  --Richard Feynman      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan

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