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Postings from November 1999
On Fri, 19 Nov 1999, Tom Christiansen wrote: > (Note for non-native speaker: imply and infer, like teach and learn, > differ in their direction, and are never interchangeable. You meant > implying, not inferring.) I know you're some kind of linguistic expert (or at least have had some training in linguistics), but I wonder if your analogy is correct? I may imply something, or I may infer something. I may teach and I may learn. If I ask you, "Are you inferring that my big toe is smelly?", I am in fact asking if you have made some inference about my toe, based on some data beknownst to you. Sure, I could also have asked you, "Are you implying that my big toe is smelly?", in which case I'm wondering whether you meant to directly say my big toe was smelly, but chose otherwise. Both sentences are grammatically correct and convey accurate meaning. There is no directionality that I can observe. I'm sure you'll now tell me how I've used the word "beknownst" inappropriately. Thanks. -Aaron