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[Heather Stern]

> -- Do you want an apple or a banana?  
> -- Yes.  
> -- [dumbfounded] What??  
> -- I want both.

The programmer in me took that as accepting the OR status, which would
lead to either. (Possibly, accepting the "want" status, where the OR comes
for free.)   "No" would lead to both (negating the OR, preferring AND)
... or to wanting an unlisted item ... and probably to a bit of gentle
biffing about that smirk on the speaker's face.  "No" in the right tone
would suggest that they don't want one, but they expect to get one anyway,
e.g. fruits on doctor's orders.  

Good friends would probably know what the answer really was - everyone else 
is *supposed* to be dumbfounded.

> That always throws me when people say that.  But it's eventually clear
> they mean "both".  But these "is" sentences, I'm not even sure what they
> mean.

I hope my little comments have helped :)

-* Heather Stern * star at starshine.org * The Answer Gang's Editor Gal *-
   The Linux Gazette (http://www.linuxgazette.net/) is under the LDP