A bullet point from an unsorted list of complaints I have against the English language. (And I think most languages.)
“I think” is an annoying extra three syllables, and should be stuck on the front of almost everything I saw. “[I think] we have apples at home.” “[I think] we take a left turn here.” This adds a lot of extra clunk to talking properly with rationalists where I want to be careful and precise in my speech. Proposal: That the normal and unmodified sentence assumes the “I think” and you instead prefix “It is a fact” or something similar when you’re making a stronger claim.
English is liberal and ambiguous with possessives. “My hat” is fine, “my spouse” I guess works but I’d rather not, “my country” seems wrong to me. I have all the decision making authority for the hat, I have next to none about the country. Proposal: that there are different words denoting “ownership of” and “associated with.”
“Listened to” has an interesting ambiguity in English. Consider the sentence “I listen to the people” or “Me and George don’t think you’re listening to us.” It can mean “heard the words of.” I listened to a radio talk show on how to fix a car’s broken fan belt. It can mean “done what those words said.” I listened to my theatre director’s coaching on where to stand during the show. Proposal: Two short phrases which mean one of those two things, and no short phrases that are ambiguous.
“will” is supposedly supposed to be interpreted as a statement of fact, but colloquially isn’t especially when it’s a contraction. “I’ll grab eggs from the store later tonight” is not normally read as a deep and abiding commitment to obtain eggs come hell or high water, but that’s sort of what a literal reading of the sentence should mean? Proposal: That the contraction form of “will” indicate an intention or light commitment.
A bullet point from an unsorted list of complaints I have against the English language. (And I think most languages.)
“I think” is an annoying extra three syllables, and should be stuck on the front of almost everything I saw. “[I think] we have apples at home.” “[I think] we take a left turn here.” This adds a lot of extra clunk to talking properly with rationalists where I want to be careful and precise in my speech. Proposal: That the normal and unmodified sentence assumes the “I think” and you instead prefix “It is a fact” or something similar when you’re making a stronger claim.
English is liberal and ambiguous with possessives. “My hat” is fine, “my spouse” I guess works but I’d rather not, “my country” seems wrong to me. I have all the decision making authority for the hat, I have next to none about the country. Proposal: that there are different words denoting “ownership of” and “associated with.”
“Listened to” has an interesting ambiguity in English. Consider the sentence “I listen to the people” or “Me and George don’t think you’re listening to us.” It can mean “heard the words of.” I listened to a radio talk show on how to fix a car’s broken fan belt. It can mean “done what those words said.” I listened to my theatre director’s coaching on where to stand during the show. Proposal: Two short phrases which mean one of those two things, and no short phrases that are ambiguous.
“will” is supposedly supposed to be interpreted as a statement of fact, but colloquially isn’t especially when it’s a contraction. “I’ll grab eggs from the store later tonight” is not normally read as a deep and abiding commitment to obtain eggs come hell or high water, but that’s sort of what a literal reading of the sentence should mean? Proposal: That the contraction form of “will” indicate an intention or light commitment.
This problem is because most have stopped using the word “shall.”