On Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:07:46 -0500, Warp wrote:

>   It seems that the answer to any "do you mind" question can be either
> "yes" or "no", but the meaning cannot be deduced from the answer and
> instead it has to be inferred from the tone of voice or the speaker.

Well, no, in the purest terms, "do you mind if" is the question being 
answered, so "yes" is "I do mind" and "no" is "I don't mind".

That said, people misunderstand (a) the question they're asking, or (b) 
the question they're being asked.

A reasonable answer to the question is "no, please, come in" or "yes, I'm 
in the middle of something, let me catch up with you later".

But the parsing of the question isn't a matter of English, but rather of 
the way those using (or misusing) the question/answer doing so.

It's a nitpicky thing, along the lines of the differences between "Can I 
sit down?" and "May I sit down?".  (The distinction is that in the first 
case, I'm pretty sure you're *capable* of sitting down; in the second 
case, you're asking permission to do so.)

Jm

Post a reply to this message