Well, there was a reason (caution mostly) that I put 'ought' in scare-quotes ...
And the phrase "present company excepted, of course," is a bit of a red flag, which is why, when I realized my gut-reaction was to say pretty much that, I figured I should stop and think. If I'm going to call others on the times when the phrased is used to mean, "but please don't get mad at me for saying it because you're not like The Rest Of Them [because I know you and that makes you human to me]" -- which isn't always what it means, but it's used that way often enough to be careful around it -- then when I catch myself saying it I'd better be completely certain that wasn't how I meant it.
On the other hand, I am saying that I thought there was an implied "in the cases in which it applies" that you didn't hear. It may take reactions from more people to figure out whether that was clear enough to reasonably expect it to have been heard most of the time or a generally unclear message.
"To me, the disclaimers, scope-definers and social noises have to be both explicit and meaningful to 'count'."
Out of curiosity, do you think there's a language/culture reason for that, or it's just a personal idiosyncracy, or something else, or is that not a question you've really felt the need to explore?
(no subject)
And the phrase "present company excepted, of course," is a bit of a red flag, which is why, when I realized my gut-reaction was to say pretty much that, I figured I should stop and think. If I'm going to call others on the times when the phrased is used to mean, "but please don't get mad at me for saying it because you're not like The Rest Of Them [because I know you and that makes you human to me]" -- which isn't always what it means, but it's used that way often enough to be careful around it -- then when I catch myself saying it I'd better be completely certain that wasn't how I meant it.
On the other hand, I am saying that I thought there was an implied "in the cases in which it applies" that you didn't hear. It may take reactions from more people to figure out whether that was clear enough to reasonably expect it to have been heard most of the time or a generally unclear message.
"To me, the disclaimers, scope-definers and social noises have to be both explicit and meaningful to 'count'."
Out of curiosity, do you think there's a language/culture reason for that, or it's just a personal idiosyncracy, or something else, or is that not a question you've really felt the need to explore?