Dave Crozier wrote: > Paul, > I don’t really grasp Al's feelings on the matter. Maybe you could précis it > for others on the group. > > Dave Crozier > Certainly Dave. Unfortunately, Allen's reply was not only brief to the point of terseness but terse to the point of ambiguity. The question was: "is it <a formset> good or not ?". Like all "OR" questions, this is really two questions:
Is it good ? Is it not good ? Allens respone of "No" could have referred to either of these questions, but not both, and, depending on which of the two questions he was answering, would convey opposite opinions. However there is the addded problem facing the reader when trying to tease the meaning out of the reply to a question framed in the negative. Consider the example Is is not good ? This can be answered, and the answers interpreted as follows "YES, <it is not good>" - meaning agreement with the assertion implied in the question, ie the response means "it is not good" "NO, <it is not good>" - meaning disagreement with the assertion implied in the question, ie the response means "it is good". There are two lessons to be learned here: 1. Do not frame questions in the negative 2. Do not give either a "YES" or a "NO" answer in response to an "OR" question. HTH <gdr> Paul _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
