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From: kaufman@uiucdcs.CS.UIUC.EDU
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Is English decaying rapidly?
Message-ID: <10600197@uiucdcs>
Date: Thu, 17-Oct-85 15:14:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.10600197
Posted: Thu Oct 17 15:14:00 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 22-Oct-85 05:35:37 EDT
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Nf-From: uiucdcs.CS.UIUC.EDU!kaufman    Oct 17 14:14:00 1985


>> Ever hear someone say "I could care less"?  Stop
>> to think about what it REALLY means?  The correct
>> word is, of course, "couldn't".

> You have mentioned one of my pet peeves from anti-Englishists. My
> really favorite, though is, "Let's see if we can't [do whatever]". Here the
> clear intent is to say, "Let's see if we CAN" do it, and for some perverse
> reason the exact opposite is said. I recently read a quote from Mr. R.
> Reagan, President of the United States, in which he stated that the US must
> see if we can't live in peace with the Soviets. I wonder how that particular
> "Americanism" gets translated...perhaps with a [sic] in the middle?

I don't like that one either.  It's almost as bad as "That'll teach you to
[insert something that shouldn't have been done]".  It should be:
"That'll teach you not to ..."

Ken Kaufman (uiucdcs!kaufman)
"Look Barony, it's a Penfold!"