bigjeff5 comments on Absolute Authority - Less Wrong

44 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 08 January 2008 03:33AM

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Comment author: bigjeff5 04 March 2011 03:57:22AM *  0 points [-]

I was a little careless with "you screwed that up"; I honestly did not intend for it to sound mean, and I could have chosen better words. I simply meant he obviously intended to use the word omnipotent instead of omnipresent.

Regarding the word too, however, I completely disagree. That is a valid use of the word, unconventional sure, but valid. I've always enjoyed seeing it employed in such a manner.

[Edit] Maybe putting "too" before "must" would sound a little nicer to some, but I liked the way "God must too" sounded in my head.

Comment author: wedrifid 04 March 2011 06:10:21AM 0 points [-]

Regarding the word too, however, I completely disagree. That is a valid use of the word, unconventional sure, but valid. I've always enjoyed seeing it employed in such a manner.

You were curious as to why you were downvoted. That wording would, I predict, have been a contributing factor. Wording significantly influences tone. That wording came across as more petulant or crude as a follow up to 'screwed up' than an alternative would have.

Comment author: bigjeff5 04 March 2011 04:48:55PM *  0 points [-]

I still don't see it as a very good reason for a down vote when nothing in the post is considered incorrect.

I expect not to be up voted if I'm being rude and technically correct, but I don't expect to be down voted. Usually when I'm down voted it is because I'm either factually wrong or I've failed at reasoning. Getting down voted for a phrasing that someone considers a little rude seems odd on this particular website. And honestly, I was not intending to be rude in any way, it is a common phrase when someone makes a mistake. I did not intend to imply anything other than the fact that he used the wrong word in his paradox.

In any case, the points aren't a big deal, and someone corrected it anyway. I was just curious if I had made a mistake, because I didn't see one even after looking over what I wrote a second and third time.

Comment author: thomblake 04 March 2011 07:56:37PM 2 points [-]

Downvotes for rudeness are pretty common. Especially after Defecting by Accident

Comment author: komponisto 04 March 2011 04:57:29PM 1 point [-]

Maybe putting "too" before "must" would sound a little nicer to some, but I liked the way "God must too" sounded in my head.

The order affects the meaning: "must too" doesn't mean "must also"; it means "on the contrary, must!" (Cf. "did too!") I don't think that's the meaning you wanted here.

Comment author: bigjeff5 02 January 2012 01:26:49AM 0 points [-]

Just noticed this comment when I was looking through my messages for an old comment, and I wanted to respond.

It is the word "too" that is important there, and the usage you describe is only used as an affirmative for contradicting a negative statement (at least, that's proper grammar anyway).

For example, if the original statement had been "God must not make a boulder he cannot lift!" and I had responded with "God must too make a boulder he cannot lift!" you would be right, but the original statement is an affirmative statement ("God can make a boulder he cannot lift."), my own sentence before it is an affirmative (in the grammatical sense - not so much in the "uplifting" sense), so trying to contradict either with an affirmative doesn't make any sense.

Also, I did a Google search, and while using "too" between must and another verb is not common, using "must too" to mean "must also" is by far the most common usage I could find. I do admit that other combinations of verb "too" verb seem to imply contradicting a negation even without the proper context, so that usage is definitely not as clear as I originally thought it would be. I still think it's pretty, though.