Language & Grammar discussion

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Blank space for me again Ruth...:-(

I'm astonished at the third column.

I must be a secret Brit.

Debbie wrote: "Blank space for me again Ruth...:-("

Are you at work?

As much as I hate to admit it......there's a lot of truth in that middle column!......and some of it is rather familiar.

yep

Debbie wrote: "yep"

Maybe your home computer will let it through.

It has....very true! I hear those comments bandied around a lot.....and the middle column is spot on! The third column must be extremely naive people!

....or am I now a complete cynic?

As a Brit, I can confirm the truth of the first two columns - and not only for politicians.

You might also want to look at this Language Log discussion of the table: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/...

The third column is what any language learner would understand. For instance, I still remember my translation teacher telling "not bad" when I've already got the best mark. And I still remember how it didn't make any sense to me.
It is not naive. It's exactly what the words mean but not what the speaker intends.

Ima.lotus wrote: "The third column is what any language learner would understand. For instance, I still remember my translation teacher telling "not bad" when I've already got the best mark. And I still remember how..."

Exactly.