So this makes me wonder, who are the "others" in "what others understand?" The table does does say Anglo-EU translation. I wonder how an Anglo-US translation guide would work -- because in many (but not ALL) of these cases the "What the British mean" is exactly how i would read it. Makes me wonder how much is a culture thing and how much is an English language thing...
Yup this is how I understand most these phrases, and God forgive me, use them too much of the time. Of course, I always have plausible deniability from my actual meaning.
I think the chart uses the EU for "others", and means people who don't understand English well enough to know that the literal translation isn't what's meant.
You're clearly familiar enough with the British to know what they really mean. :)
Part of it is that US culture, particularly urban, educated culture, uses the British forms as a formal ("high register") variety, especially when there is a relationship of formal authority which one is avoiding invoking.
I always tease justom that when he says something is "fine" it means "really rather disappointing", whereas "not bad" or "decent" means "good" and "nice" means "really good" :-)
I do think this translation is specifically (though not exclusively) British-inflected; it doesn't work directly for most US subcultures.
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The "with the greatest respect" is spot on too....
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You're clearly familiar enough with the British to know what they really mean. :)
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I do think this translation is specifically (though not exclusively) British-inflected; it doesn't work directly for most US subcultures.
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