Keith Thompson:
If I'm missing something here, please help me understand it. I've
said myself that if somebody misunderstands what I've written, it's my
responsibility to write more clearly. But in this case, after reading
all the discussion, "Please don't feed the trolls" is exactly what I
wanted to say.
First thing I'll say is that most of the participants here seem to be
native speakers of English, or perhaps very fluent.
Keith, people interpreted your statement differently. This could be put
down to their own individual thoughts, or perhaps dialect, or perhaps the
way you worded the statement.
With regard to dialect, one example I can think of is rural Ireland; in
rural Ireland, they use the word "may" when administering an instruction,
most notably in a forceful manner. For instance, consider a situation where
Person A has borrowed Person B's car. Person B brings the car back filthy.
Person A might say "You _may_ clean that car". In rural Ireland, this is a
forceful instruction.
In different places however, "may" has much more passive connotations. (In
fact, I can't remember the last time I heard someone say "may" in Dublin.)
My opinion on the topic is as follows:
Keith is a fluent speaker of English, and there was nothing inherently
wrong with the wording of his request. If it was interpreted as an
instruction rather than a request, then neither party is to blame. Upon
hearing that his statement was misinterpreted, Keith clarified his intent,
indicating that his statement was a request rather than an instruction. So
there we have it, we know what Keith was trying to say, case closed.
To those of you whose interpretation of the statement was different to the
meaning which was intended to be conveyed, you can take note that Keith
Thompson may again in future make use of "Please don't" without inferring
anything other than a request -- it would be logical to assume this. If you
don't like his usage of English, then fair enough, but it doesn't give you
the right to deliberately misconstrue, and to propogate the misconstruance
of, what he said.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have some domestic problems to attend to. ; )
[When I say "Now if you'll X...", it should not be interpreted as an order]
