From: jfh@rpp386.lonestar.org (John F. Haugh II)
Newsgroups: tx.politics
Subject: Re: Pro-Choice
Date: 14 Aug 92 13:06:49 GMT
Reply-To: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org (John F. Haugh II)
Organization: River Parishes Programming, Austin, Republic of Texas

In article <1992Aug12.150738.16951@mksol.dseg.ti.com> mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>Nonsense, John.  Oh, I don't doubt that a lot of anti-abortion groups
>use this sort of questioning to arrive at their propaganda numbers,
>but most reputable pollsters don't.  

Most reputable pollsters aren't.

I pay you to conduct a poll.  You will find what I have paid you to find
because if you don't, you won't get paid again.

The news media (and the polling services are increasing the same thing
as "the news media") is inherently left-leaning.  The results that the
pollsters from the news media are going to find will be left-leaning.

>Is English your first language?  I ask this because you seem to have
>some real problems with it (on top of all your 'redefinitions' of
>words and phrases).  I would think that most people would interpret
>your hypothetical question to be exactly the reverse of what you had
>your hypothetical respondent do.  It's all in the ordering of the
>clauses.  I would interpret what you asked as being equivalent to
>asking if there are any circumstances under which abortion SHOULDN'T
>be permitted; i.e., "Should abortion be permitted under all
>circumstances," where 'any circumstances' is its common usage from
>such phrases as "I would not do that under any circumstances".  To get
>the interpretation you came up with, I would expect the question to be
>worded, "Are there any circumstances under which abortion should be
>legal?"

Yes, English is my first language.  I am a published writer.  Obviously
other people are suitably convinced that what I write is "English."  I
will be (I hope) presenting a paper at the upcoming USENIX Security
Symposium.  It isn't much of a paper, but I did write it in English, and
it does appear to have been accepted (warts and all ...)

The question "Should abortion be legal under any circumstances?" is
quite obvious in its meaning.  It is very different from the question
"Should abortion be legal under all circumstances?"  The first question
is answered "YES" if any one "circumstance" is a "YES" answer.  It is
quite different from the second where the answer is "NO" if there
exists any one circumstance under which abortion should be illegal.

The clause which you have so much trouble with is quite similiar to
the clauses "under some circumstances", "under certain circumstances",
"under limited circumstances" and so on.  The word "any" is defined by
my $3.95 Websters as "any one or ones <take ~ books you like>".  You
should go buy one of those dictionaries.

>Hmmm, perhaps this explains your problems?  You just aren't precise
>enough in your use or understanding of language?

Given that I regularly write technical proposals, documentation, training
materials, etc., I'd say the problem is that you lack the intelligence to
read what is placed before you.  Perhaps that explains why your make
believe degree in economics has done you no good.  I will try to write at
the 5th grade level more often.
-- 
John F. Haugh II                   | Life's Little Instruction Book:
Ma Bell: (512) 251-2151            | "#138.  Learn Spanish.  In a few years,
UUCP: ...!cs.utexas.edu!rpp386!jfh |  more than 35% of all Americans will speak
Domain: jfh@rpp386.cactus.org      |  it as their first language."