From: Eleanor McHugh <eleanor@...>
Date: 2009-05-13T01:25:40+09:00
Subject: Re: On the Niceties of Asking For what You Want (was Re: Want some  information....)

On 12 May 2009, at 16:47, Rick DeNatale wrote:
> On Tue, May 12, 2009 at 10:21 AM, Eleanor McHugh
> <eleanor@games-with-brains.com> wrote:
>> 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.
>
> Fair enough, but may have the temerity to suggest that civility would
> best be preserved if we follow at least the part of Postel's law about
> being liberal in what we accept, particularly in a 'place' frequented
> by a mix of American's, Brit's, other native 'English' speakers, and
> non-native speakers who have various ideas/knowledge of what's
> proper/conservative to produce.

Oh definitely.


Ellie

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