Dragaera

OT: Subjectivity vs. Objectivity (was: bois...)

Thu Aug 15 12:07:10 PDT 2002

At 07:25 PM 8/15/2002 +0100, Mike Scott wrote:
>  The change has
> > pretty much happened, but I cannot imagine how it could be construed
> > as improving the language.
>
>Sure it could. There is clearly a linguistic niche for a gerundive
>meaning "it is to be hoped".

Why?  That is, what does "it is to be hoped" mean?  It is to be hoped by 
*whom*?  By persons unknown?  Why say that?  By you?  Then say, "I 
hope."  By me?  Then say, "You should hope."  By all right-thinking 
people?  Then say that.  Why this insistence on vagueness?

In fact, "hopefully" in its vague use developed from the German word that 
sounds like it but that I can't possibly spell--something like 
huffentlich.  I asked my father (German lit. professor) what that word 
meant, and he said, with no hesitation, "I hope."