From: Eleanor McHugh <eleanor@...>
Date: 2009-05-12T23:21:52+09:00
Subject: Re: On the Niceties of Asking For what You Want (was Re: Want some  information....)

On 12 May 2009, at 14:19, Rick DeNatale wrote:
> On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 8:59 AM, Robert Klemme
> <shortcutter@googlemail.com> wrote:
>> 2009/5/12 Arun Kumar <arunkumar@innovaturelabs.com>:
>>>   I want to know about authentication in ruby. Is it possible to  
>>> scrap
>>> html of those sites which require basic authentication.
>>
>> I am not a native speaker but for all I know "want" is considered
>> impolite among English speaking people.
>
> I wouldn't say so.  To want carries the same basic connotation as
> vouloir in French, I don't know that  je veut, or je voudrais is more
> impolite than say j'aimerais and I'd think that the average native
> English speaker would consider both I want, or I would like to be
> socially acceptable expressions of a desire for something.

I can only speak from a British perspective, but 'want' does sound  
slightly too demanding compared to 'need' or 'like' in this context. A  
more natural (and oblique) phrasing would be along the lines of 'I was  
wondering if anyone knows how to handle authentication in Ruby?" which  
cares much less of an emotional subtext than the more direct approach.

> If we are talking about faux amis, one of the tricky French-English
> ones is demander, which translates properly in English to "to ask"
> whereas do demand in English means something more like exiger in
> French, and would probably be perceived as a step up the rudeness
> scale.

The only people in England who routinely use 'demand' tend to be very  
disgruntled retired army officers and the representatives of trade  
unions ;)


Ellie

Eleanor McHugh
Games With Brains
http://slides.games-with-brains.net
----
raise ArgumentError unless @reality.responds_to? :reason