Word: requesting
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...outwardly conservative politics of these men and their private same-sex behavior. But while these guys may be liars--Craig's "wide stance" inanity has already entered the world-historical lexicon of political b.s.--it's not clear that they are conniving hypocrites. Here's a moistly liberal request: Can we have a moment of pity for moralizers who fall...
Taken literally, these sentences are inane. The second is an overstatement, and the answer to the first is obvious. Fortunately, the hearer assumes that the speaker is rational and listens between the lines. Yes, your point is to request the salt, but you're doing it in such a way that first takes care to establish what linguists call "felicity conditions," or the prerequisites to making a sensible request. The underlying rationale is that the hearer not be given a command but simply be asked or advised about one of the necessary conditions for passing the salt. Your goal...
...coffee. He declines, explaining that caffeine keeps him up at night. Later he slaps his forehead: "'Coffee' doesn't mean coffee! 'Coffee' means sex!" The moment is funny, but it's also a reminder of just how carefully romantic partners must always tread. Make too blatant a request, as in Tootsie, and the hearer is offended; too subtle, as in Seinfeld, and it can go over the hearer's head...
...Jankovic both had to practice in an abandoned indoor swimming pool in downtown Belgrade for lack of other facilities. Both were also kids when U.S. planes bombed their hometown in the campaign to drive Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic out of Kosovo back in 1999. At her parent's request, Ivanovic practised in the early morning to avoid the bombing runs. Jankovic was playing junior tournaments in Europe at the time and had to take a seven-hour train ride to Budapest and make her way past suspicious immigration officers looking askance at her Yugoslav passport even to play. When...
...spectators, TIME's reporter asked squad official Matt McIlraith for a brief interview with the coach, John Mitchell, who was overseeing practice the way a chess master examines the board. While he didn't quite scoff, McIlraith made it clear there was precisely zero chance of the request being granted. Mitchell wasn't feeding the chooks anymore, he said. He was all business...