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Re: can-may

From:Scotto Hlad <scotto@...>
Date:Monday, December 27, 2004, 23:31
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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Herman Miller <hmiller@...>