"Curtis L. Olson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > Martin Spott writes: > > Yesterday the conductor of out orchestra told us _not_ to use the word 'bad' > > for describing positive events or facts. This, he said, would be a bad habit > > among users of the German language :-) > > In my culture if someone asks you how you are doing, the most positive > thing you should ever say is "not too bad." Because, you never know, > even if things are going really well, they could get worse at any > time, and you wouldn't want to overstate your state of wellness. > Besides, everyone else says "not too bad" and if someone said > something different, it would make them stand out, which again is > something to be avoided. :-) > > Here in Minnesota, we "forked" the scandanavian culture, switched to > english, mixed in a bunch of other random stuff like MTV, Mexican > food, and Polka dancing. But all in all, it's not too bad; could be > worse. >
Then there is the case where just bad means good :-) See the paragraph headed "Our Living Language" at: http://www.bartleby.com/61/7/B0020700.html Best, Jim _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
