Re: Can vs. May

["Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher -at- EXPERSOFT -dot- COM>]

>...the popular impression of "may" meaning permission is too
>strong.

Bullpuckie!

I'm sorry. I don't mean to be obstinate. But, IMO, here we go again,
creating all sorts of whimsical workarounds for perfectly good words
because we somehow perceive, without substantial evidence, that others
interpret the words negatively. And we state our perceptions with such
force of conviction that we convince ourself that perception equals fact.

I see/hear "possibilities" in the force of the word "maybe". I see/hear
the "popular" request for permission in "can I go now? can I have some?"
You have to jog "popular" memory with the line from a childhood game,
"mother, *may* I", before "permission" changes from "can" to "may".
So howcome you don't advocate a ban on "can" because it implies
permission????

I reserve the word "can" to discuss enablement.

I use the word "may" to discuss possibilities. I have no negative
feedback from my audience that suggests that they misinterpret my
use of the word. (But, then again, they're programmers. They don't
need anybody's permission to do anything! <G>) "May" is short and
succinct.  It subvocalizes well, where "might" and "could", IMO, do not.

This is a personal choice on my part. You may choose to do things
differently. Anything's possible!  ;-) I just don't think we should
dismiss perfectly good words arbitrarily. We may regret it later.


-Sue Gallagher               http://pw1.netcom.com/~gscale/susanwg/
sgallagher -at- expersoft -dot- com     http://www.expersoft.com

The _Guide_ is definitive.
Reality is frequently inaccurate.  --Douglas Adams

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=