Editorials & Other Articles

Of course, it was 4.5% in 11/21, but it wasn't 4.3!

It's the old semantics example, "Do you have $10 I could borrow for lunch?" Response: "If I had $10, you could certainly borrow it. But, no, I don't have $10." Later the respondent is taking $90 out of her wallet. "You asked if I had $10. I didn't. I had $110." The over-literal versus what's going to be interpreted based on assumed intended meaning. It's considered an act of ill-will, linguistically speaking, a kind of social hostility.