In a message dated 3/28/2007 8:18:08 A.M. Central Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: >Also - just to help a little with English - the strict answer to your question is "Yes" - and that's it. The question was "Could you xxxxxx." This is correct as far as the English that I learned 50+ years ago in my childhood English grammar classes, but not so far as current, slangy, idiomatic, and au courant English spoken by the average illiterate American on the street. When I am in line at a fast food restaurant, I come to a slow boil when I hear someone in front of me say "Can I have xxx?", and then I am enraged when the person taking his order says "Yes". As we all know, the person taking the order cannot possibly know whether or not the person wanting to buy xxx can have it or can't have it. Probably only the orderer, his doctor, or his personal trainer knows that. And even if he were to say "May I have xxx?", then the order-taker might say "Yes" but still should not do anything else until the orderer finally says "Please give me xxx" or "I would like xxx", which is what I always say when it is my turn to order. But then I happen to know what "can" [1] and "may" [2] mean literally, and I have been a literalist all my life. My language literalism has served me quite well in writing and debugging code, but it has gotten me in trouble several times with other people who cannot [1] think or converse literally. Bill Fairchild Plainfield, IL [1] "Can I have xxx" means literally "Am I physically capable of having xxx?" or "Do I know how to have xxx?" [2] "May I have xxx" means "Am I permitted to have xxx?" or "Is it possible for me to have xxx?", and it is not the same as asking for or ordering xxx.
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