MSGID: 1:153/716.0 e82b2a83   
   REPLY:  b89fea00   
   CHRS: IBMPC 2   
   Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
    ak>  Taking aside "directly" I think that the question   
    ak>  "will you" demands the answer like "Yeah, I will".   
      
      
              In many cases "yes" would probably be enough.  IMHO it's a courtesy   
   to add a time estimate, however, in situations like this one....  :-)   
      
      
      
    AH>  I don't know many people nowadays who would say "anon",   
    AH>  as Juliet did more than four centuries ago. Either way   
    AH>  I understand the intent. But since I have no idea who   
    AH>  Anton's colleagues are I'd hesitate to suggest he use   
    AH>  the word "yeah" or add "hang on a sec", as I might do   
    AH>  with family & friends.   
      
    ak>  Well, if you have good relations with your office   
    ak>  colleges   
      
      
              Usage note:  "college" and "colleague" are two different words, but   
   if Anton is a college instructor his colleagues are other instructors....  :-)   
      
      
      
    ak>  -- why not?   
      
      
              My family & friends know I'm quite capable of using formal language   
   if the situation requires it... so I don't have to prove anything to them, and   
   I'm more inclined to speak colloquially.  In academic or business circles such   
   an invitation may be a test of one's knowledge of the rules of etiquette.  ;-)   
      
      
      
    ak>  The only thing, I think, you should not confuse them   
    ak>  with very clever or tricky words.   
      
      
              Agreed.  But without knowing who Anton's colleagues are, or whether   
   they often use English in communication with one another, it's difficult to be   
   sure what *they* might regard as unnecessarily clever or tricky words....  :-)   
      
      
      
    ak>  I believe the trauma the Anton's college had got was   
    ak>  connected exactly with such a confusion. He thought so   
    ak>  hard on the word "directly" that he struck the door   
    ak>  jamb with his forehead. ;-)   
      
      
              I believe one of the attractions of stories like this is that we're   
   simply told what happened & can't resist wondering about the reason(s).  Maybe   
   Anton's colleague lost his bearings because his mind was busy figuring out how   
   to interpret "directly" in this context... or maybe he had done the same thing   
   so often he turned a bit too abruptly.  I have experienced both at home.  What   
   comes to my mind first, however, is an incident where I happened to be present   
   when of my instructors received a very similar offer from a fellow instructor.   
   In the halls of academia you generally won't hear people swearing although the   
   curriculum may include novels your parents wouldn't allow you to read when you   
   were in high school.  For a person who overheard but didn't see what was going   
   on, it might be tempting to think the offer made to Anton wasn't genuine.  :-Q   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
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