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From: galenr@iddic.UUCP (Galen Redfield)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Is English decaying rapidly?
Message-ID: <2225@iddic.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 8-Oct-85 15:42:52 EDT
Article-I.D.: iddic.2225
Posted: Tue Oct  8 15:42:52 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Oct-85 13:25:10 EDT
References: <1427@cae780.UUCP>
Reply-To: galenr@iddic.UUCP (Galen Redfield)
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 18
Summary: 

[]

You must be getting more sensitive.  I can still recall being  scolded
for bad manners as a youngster when my mother said to me at the dinner
table, "Would you mind passing me the salt?" to which I replied,  "No,
mom,  I  wouldn't mind that!"  She set me straight about how sometimes
(often) people don't say exactly what they mean, but that I should try
to understand what they mean instead of always being so literal.

In the case of "not availiable in all areas," I think your translation
is equivalent, but you shifted the negative.  It would be "unavailable
everywhere"  instead  of  "available  nowhere," but it means the same.
The original statement should have been "not available in some areas."

English has always been weird, especially when spoken.

Warm regards,
Galen.