“Doesn’t know” doesn’t literally means “has absolutely no knowledge about”. He clearly doesn’t know why Ally McBeal is considered important and probably not much about her other than a name and a knowledge that she is considered important by other people. The amount of knowledge to use something in a sentence, and even to make certain meaningful statements about it, is far less than the amount of knolwedge that non-LWers mean when they say they “don’t know” what something is.
He clearly does know why she’s considered important, or he couldn’t meaningfully disagree that she was. If he literally only knew that there was someone by that name considered important, that would be a reason to try to learn more, not to brag about his ignorance.
Most likely he has at least the same background knowledge as most English speakers; that she’s a television figure who at one point starred in a show bearing her name. Read uncritically, the quote creates an image of his literally being baffled and asking “Who?” every time someone mentions her; that’s an exaggeration and a brag.
Yes, he knows she’s someone who had a TV show. That isn’t equivalent to knowing why she’s important, since not every person who has a TV show is considered important. I would imagine that he has no idea what distinguishes this TV show from other TV shows whose stars are not considered important.
In support of your argument: I only looked up “Ally McBeal” a few minutes ago, and promptly discovered that I not only lacked all but the most cursory information on Ally McBeal but that what information I did have was almost entirely wrong. The name of the program was not “The Ally McBeal Show,” it was not a talk show or comedy sketch show or anything similar, and Ally McBeal is a wholly fictional character, rather than the name of a living person and that person’s fictionalized persona à la Ray Romano of Everybody Loves Raymond.
I think it would be fair to say that I previously had “no idea who Ally McBeal was.” Despite knowing that the name pointed to something, I was incorrect in just about every respect except for which pronouns to use and it had something to do with a television show.
“Doesn’t know” doesn’t literally means “has absolutely no knowledge about”. He clearly doesn’t know why Ally McBeal is considered important and probably not much about her other than a name and a knowledge that she is considered important by other people. The amount of knowledge to use something in a sentence, and even to make certain meaningful statements about it, is far less than the amount of knolwedge that non-LWers mean when they say they “don’t know” what something is.
He clearly does know why she’s considered important, or he couldn’t meaningfully disagree that she was. If he literally only knew that there was someone by that name considered important, that would be a reason to try to learn more, not to brag about his ignorance.
Most likely he has at least the same background knowledge as most English speakers; that she’s a television figure who at one point starred in a show bearing her name. Read uncritically, the quote creates an image of his literally being baffled and asking “Who?” every time someone mentions her; that’s an exaggeration and a brag.
Yes, he knows she’s someone who had a TV show. That isn’t equivalent to knowing why she’s important, since not every person who has a TV show is considered important. I would imagine that he has no idea what distinguishes this TV show from other TV shows whose stars are not considered important.
In support of your argument: I only looked up “Ally McBeal” a few minutes ago, and promptly discovered that I not only lacked all but the most cursory information on Ally McBeal but that what information I did have was almost entirely wrong. The name of the program was not “The Ally McBeal Show,” it was not a talk show or comedy sketch show or anything similar, and Ally McBeal is a wholly fictional character, rather than the name of a living person and that person’s fictionalized persona à la Ray Romano of Everybody Loves Raymond.
I think it would be fair to say that I previously had “no idea who Ally McBeal was.” Despite knowing that the name pointed to something, I was incorrect in just about every respect except for which pronouns to use and it had something to do with a television show.