[TAG] TAG blogroll

[Jimmy O'Regan]

mso at oz.net wrote:
> Benjamin A. Okopnik wrote:
> 
>>On Wed, Aug 31, 2005 at 11:37:04AM -0700, Mike Orr wrote:
>>
>>>PS. What's the deal with incomplete "is" sentences?  First Heather
>>>writes
>>>"the problem is that menu interface standardization isn't" [1], and now
>>>Thomas tells us his blogs "aren't".  Aren't what?  Existing?  Is this
>>>some
>>>jargon du jour?  Or some conspiracy by the TAG editors?
>>
>>It isn't.
> 
> 
> That's not the same thing though. :)  It's clear that the missing
> predicate is "some conspiracy by the TAG editors".  I'm talking about
> cases where there is no previous predicate.  (i.e., where the previous
> predicate isn't.)   It's worse than:
> 
> -- Do you want an apple or a banana?
> -- Yes.

Ask an ambiguous question, get an ambiguous answer. In this case, the 
question is doubly ambiguous.

Firstly, the question is being asked with an implicit second question: 
'And if so, which would you like'. The second speaker doesn't see that, 
and is presumably expecting a follow-up question.

Secondly: think back to when you were a school kid:

'Do you want some chocolate'
'Yes please'
'I wasn't offering, I was just asking if you want some'

:)

> -- [dumbfounded] What??
> -- I want both.
> 
> 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.

But that's just plain wrong. 'No' would be a somewhat correct answer if 
you want both, as you don't want an apple *or* a banana (the only really 
correct answer would be to ask if both are on offer). 'Yes' is correct 
for either an apple or a banana.