"Scott D. Yelich" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>I thought UTC was GMT... is that not correct?
Ah, two of my favorite peeves...and so concisely combined.
First, UTC is not GMT. There're close, but not the same. See various
net resources, if you're piqued.
Second, the phrase "is that not correct", and how to properly answer
it. If it were a simple assertion followed by a simple question, e.g.:
UTC is GMT, right?
Since the assertion is false, the answer is clearly negative ("no" or
"wrong"). Throwing the "not" before the assertion reverses it:
UTC is GMT, not right?
The assertion (UTC == GMT) is false, so the the answer to the question
is affirmative ("yes" or "right").
But most people seem to use the "not" as syntactic sugar, not
intending it to reverse the sense of the question, so in response to:
I thought UTC was GMT... is that not correct?
They want a negative if UTC <> GMT. E.g., a typical exchange:
Bill: UTC is GMT, is it not?
Joe: No, they're different.
Joe can't just say "No", because it's unclear if he's interpreting the
question grammatically, or anticipating that Bill really doesn't mean
what he's saying.
So my point is, unless you like reading silly analyses of grammatical
constructs in the qmail list, you should be careful to express
yourself unambiguously.
-Dave
