Grammatical Correctness

[Bigaldoc]

I was reminded of this one yesterday.

I once asked a nurse who was taking my temperature: "Do I have a temperature?" Of course I knew that I was intentionally omitting the word "elevated."

But she had to be a smarty pants and answer: "Sure you've got a temperature, you're not dead! But you don't have a fever."

Just goes to show...

[HansV]

When I was a student, one of my friends ALWAYS answered questions such as "Do you know what time it is" or "Could you tell me what time it is" with a short "Yes"...

[Bigaldoc]

Gggrrrr...

[StuartR]

I frequently answer questions such as "Do you want tea or coffee?" with "Yes"

[HansV]

Ah! The mathematical/logical use of "or"...

[Goshute]

And then there's the issue that you will still have a temperature when you are dead, depending on ambient temperature, body mass, and elapsed time since death. (I guess I watch too many crime shows.)

[HansV]

Technically speaking, everything has a temperature, whether alive or not, except an absolute vacuum (which probably doesn't exist).

[John Gray]

The usual tick-box question which seems to require a Yes option instead is:
Are you Male â–¡ or Female â–¡ ?

[John Gray]

I frequently answer questions such as "Do you want tea or coffee?" with "Yes"

Q: "Can I ask you a question?"
A: "You just have..."

[HansV]

The usual question which seems to require a Yes option is:
Are you Male â–¡ or Female â–¡ ?

Another story from my student days, although I suspect it's an urban legend:

The day after a professor in Mathematics had become a father, his colleagues at the Mathematics Institute asked him whether it was a son or a daughter. Of course, he replied Yes.

[Bigaldoc]

I frequently answer questions such as "Do you want tea or coffee?" with "Yes"

Q: "Can I ask you a question?"
A: "You just have..."

In American grammar, I was always taught that the word is "may" not "can" for can implies physical ability rather than permission. But then, I attended parochial elementary school...

[Bigaldoc]

What's so funny about all of this is that my original episode did not involve a boolean operation at all, just an "assumed" adjective.

You guys are pistols! I'll have to be VERY careful of questions I ask here in the future so as not to get a yes or no answer!

[BobH]

My favorite is for someone to ask me to provide a particular word. After voicing the asked for item, I invariably get, "Can you spell it?"

My most frequent response is "Aye tee."

[DaveA]

or and if else equals a maybe

[Cellmate]

I once told my (then) wife "I'm going to hop in the shower."

She gave me a quick glance, went back to what she was doing and said "Most people just stand there."

Cellmate

[John Gray]

In American grammar, I was always taught that the word is "may" not "can" for can implies physical ability rather than permission. But then, I attended parochial elementary school...

Al, I think you will find that the maintenance of a distinction between "may" and "can" is an entirely lost cause...

[StuartR]

...I think you will find that the maintenance of a distinction between "may" and "can" is an entirely lost cause...

It may be, but it may not.

Try replacing may with can in that sentence!

[HansV]

And I'm not sure that "Yes we may" would have been a successful slogan for Barack Obama...

In the fair month of Can, I drank a may of Mayadian beer while dancing around the Canpole. Soon afterwards, I had to visit the may.

[Bigaldoc]

And I'm not sure that "Yes we may" would have been a successful slogan for Barack Obama...

Based on my above premise, it certainly would NOT have been a good slogan 'cause he (they) certainly didn't have MY permission!

[BobH]

...I think you will find that the maintenance of a distinction between "may" and "can" is an entirely lost cause...

It may be, but it may not.

Try replacing may with can in that sentence!

Try: It might be, but it might not. (To state the possibility, or impossibility of the event).

I agree with Big Al. And Hans, the use of the phrase by the current incumbent of the white house was correct and proper.

May, as Al correctly demurs, means to have permission.

Can means to be able to.

Therefore, to say "Yes,we can!" is an appropriate usage of the verb; and I believe it correctly states the imperative of the ambition. I fear, however, that the events of the last 18 months have proved it to be only ambition - not a statement of ability.