On Sun, September 9, 2007 3:14 pm, DJA wrote: > Todd Walton wrote: >> On 9/9/07, Lan Barnes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> I will now retire to the pedant's corner, ever vigilant for someone's >>> spelling "cannot" as "can not". >> >> I can not bother you with it if you'd like, but m-w.com says: >> > [snip] >> >> -todd > > The above sentence is a good example of how "cannot" and "can not" can > have different meanings. > > I can not bother you: I can refrain from bothering you. > I cannot bother you: I am not able to bother you. > > "Cannot" and "can not" are not intrinsically equivalent in English. >
I had no idea (or noidea) my jape would provoke such a substantive discussion. </me pops some corn and settles in to watch> -- Lan Barnes SCM Analyst Linux Guy Tcl/Tk Enthusiast Biodiesel Brewer -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
