"Do you mind if I come in?"
  "Yes, of course."

  Uh... Yes, you mind, or yes, I can come in?

  "Do you mind if I come in?"
  "No, not at all."

  Hmm, no. you don't mind, or no, I cannot come on?

  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.
You could just as well answer "banana" and it would carry as much
meaning without the tone of voice.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On 2/1/2012 1:07 PM, Warp wrote:
>    "Do you mind if I come in?"
>    "Yes, of course."
>
>    Uh... Yes, you mind, or yes, I can come in?
>
>    "Do you mind if I come in?"
>    "No, not at all."
>
>    Hmm, no. you don't mind, or no, I cannot come on?
>
>    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.
> You could just as well answer "banana" and it would carry as much
> meaning without the tone of voice.
>

Do you mind if I add a comment?

I run into this all of the time - it's mildly frustrating and amusing at 
the same time.

When I respond to such a question I try to make it clear what my 
response is.  Sometimes I use it to joke with another person.

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Tom Austin <voi### [at] voidnet> wrote:
> When I respond to such a question I try to make it clear what my 
> response is.  Sometimes I use it to joke with another person.

  I suppose that if you wanted to confuse someone, you could answer
"maybe".

  "Do you mind if I come in?"
  "Maybe."
  "???"

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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On 2/1/2012 2:10 PM, Warp wrote:
> Tom Austin<voi### [at] voidnet>  wrote:
>> When I respond to such a question I try to make it clear what my
>> response is.  Sometimes I use it to joke with another person.
>
>    I suppose that if you wanted to confuse someone, you could answer
> "maybe".
>
>    "Do you mind if I come in?"
>    "Maybe."
>    "???"
>

Actually, this is easier to understand than the simple 'yes' or 'no' answer.

Instead of trying to figure out if it is truly OK or not, you know that 
there may be some problem with yo coming in.

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>    "Do you mind if I come in?"
>    "Yes, of course."
>
>    Uh... Yes, you mind, or yes, I can come in?
>
>    "Do you mind if I come in?"
>    "No, not at all."
>
>    Hmm, no. you don't mind, or no, I cannot come on?
>
>    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.
> You could just as well answer "banana" and it would carry as much
> meaning without the tone of voice.
>

It reminds me of a dialog box in one of the programs I use:

Do you want to cancel changes?

[OK]  [CANCEL]

It should really have been a Yes/No dialog box as OK cancels the 
changes, while CANCEL goes back to the edition screen, allowing you to 
make more changes...

-- 
/*Francois Labreque*/#local a=x+y;#local b=x+a;#local c=a+b;#macro P(F//
/*    flabreque    */L)polygon{5,F,F+z,L+z,L,F pigment{rgb 9}}#end union
/*        @        */{P(0,a)P(a,b)P(b,c)P(2*a,2*b)P(2*b,b+c)P(b+c,<2,3>)
/*   gmail.com     */}camera{orthographic location<6,1.25,-6>look_at a }

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On 2/1/2012 10:07, Warp wrote:
> You could just as well answer "banana" and it would carry as much
> meaning without the tone of voice.

I am sooooo going to try this!  I'll report back with hard evidence once 
I've collected it.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   People tell me I am the counter-example.

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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

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On 01/02/2012 06:07 PM, Warp wrote:
>    "Do you mind if I come in?"
>    "Yes, of course."
>
>    Uh... Yes, you mind, or yes, I can come in?
>
>    "Do you mind if I come in?"
>    "No, not at all."
>
>    Hmm, no. you don't mind, or no, I cannot come on?

Yesterday, the head of HR came into my office and said (and I quote)

   "Can I ask you a question?"

To which I obviously replied "you just did".

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Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>
> Yesterday, the head of HR came into my office and said (and I quote)
>
>    "Can I ask you a question?"
>
> To which I obviously replied "you just did".


Data: May I ask a question?

LaForge: I think you just did.

Data: Quite correct. Then may I ask another question after this one?


-- "Star Trek: The Next Generation" The Schizoid Man (1989)

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