Re: Fiat Lux

On Fri, Jun 22, 2001 at 12:32:56AM -0400, Nik Taylor wrote:
> Muke Tever wrote:
> > In _function_ it can be.  (can be.)
> >
> > But the _form_ is simply second-person imperative of 'let' plus a verb.
> > Literally it just comes out to "(you) allow us to dance".
>
> Let's can ONLY be used as a first person plural imperative.  No native
> speaker would ever say "Let's dance" to mean "Allow us to dance".  For
> that meaning, you'd say "Let us dance".
I must disagree. To me, its base or "literal" meaning is more of a
suggestion than a command; thus, "Let's go out to eat" and "Why don't we go
out to eat?" have about the same force. Of course, in some contexts it does
function as a command (sometimes even as a 2nd person command!)

--
Eric Christopherson | Rakko