At 01:15 AM 8/16/2002 -0700, David Silberstein wrote: >Getting back to "hopefully", I don't think it means exactly "I hope" >or "you hope" No, it doesn't. That's the problem. >- those are emotions specific to the speaker or the >listener, and if the speaker wants to be that specific, he is >perfectly free to say one or the other - to use the chef's knife, as >it were. But most people don't bother, because there is easy way out, that doesn't encourage us to think about what we mean. We say, "I'm involved in a relationship with Susan." What does "relationship" mean in that context? Do you know? Can you define it? It *sounds* like it's saying something, but it really isn't. How has this use of "relationship" made it easier to communicate? It hasn't. Instead, you have a lot of people who *think* they understand what you've said, and nod, but, in reality, they are living in a world of muddied, unclear thoughts. The same is true of "hopefully," although not as much. It gives the illusion of saying something more precisely than it has. It is very much of a kind to what the businessmen and politicians do--making it sound like they said more than they have. I mislike it that so many of us do this accidentally.