What's carefully crafted about "The British have learned...." ????
Suppose I say that `James has learned to drive'. If I then say, `he
drove into the ditch' you understand that I was being ironic about the
phrase `learned to drive'. This is because learning, in everyday use,
is not supposed to mean `learned to fail'.
The phrase `learned to drive' is supposed to mean `learned to drive
successfully'. A person who has learned to drive is not expected to
drive into a ditch, except rarely.
The phrase "The British have learned...." suggests to a listening
public that the US President had US intelligence agencies investigate
the matter. Put another way, if I tell you that `James has learned to
drive', you can be pretty sure that I had reason to say that --
perhaps his mother told me that James got his driver's license.
Clearly, espionage questions are more difficult, but the
interpretation of what someone says about them is the same.
Moreover, the statement suggests that the US intelligence agencies
reported to the President positively. Consquently, the listening
public interpret the President's words to mean that the "The British
have learned correctly, as best our intelligence agencies can
discover....", not, as was the case, that "The British have learned
incorrectly...."
--
Robert J. Chassell Rattlesnake Enterprises
http://www.rattlesnake.com GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
http://www.teak.cc [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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