On Aug 1, 2011, at 3:57 PM, Mark Atwood wrote: > On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 10:08 AM, Hadriel Kaplan <[email protected]> > wrote: >> >> Fascinating. I had no idea that there even *was* such a phrase in common >> usage, let alone that there was known etymology for it. One learns >> something new every day. >> But I meant it quite literally: a moderate/humble/etc. proposal for Friday >> meeting schedule. > > English is funny that way, and it's one of the things that make it > such a difficult language to learn. A great deal of the meaning is > not in the literal meaning of a given chain of words, but is also > contained in the historical and literary allusions that given phrases > may have, which often have the direct opposite or at least very > different meaning than the literal words.
I believe that "problem" exists in other languages also. I also don't think that Swift forever changed the meaning of "modest proposal" by writing that article. Those with a familiarity of English literature might see another potential meaning in those words, but the "normal" meaning still applies. Keith _______________________________________________ Ietf mailing list [email protected] https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf
