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Language: My delusion or no
http://forums.clankiller.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=805		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  RB [ Sun Apr 25, 2004 5:32 am ]
Post subject:  Language: My delusion or no
The phrase: "Shall we do it at once?"

1. Is this valid phrase?
2. Means that person who say it become impatient about doing some thing.
3. Comments, explainations?
Author:  Pig [ Sun Apr 25, 2004 5:47 am ]
Post subject: 
It is valid, but uncommon. It means the person asking thinks it should be done immediately, but does not imply impatience.
Author:  pevil [ Sun Apr 25, 2004 6:59 am ]
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Quite so mr pig. Pretty much a "well we will do it but shall we do it now or after we've done this thing?" comment, more than impatience.
Author:  Mole [ Sun Apr 25, 2004 6:59 am ]
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Yup, its fine, just most people would more likely say "Shall we do it right away?"
Author:  Rinox [ Sun Apr 25, 2004 9:58 am ]
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Modality sucks ass. :)
Author:  Satis [ Sun Apr 25, 2004 7:18 pm ]
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lol, coming from the English major. :roll:

Agreed, anyway, it's a valid phrase but not something a native English speaker would typically use. 'at once', for instance, is not something most people would EVER say, regardless the sentence or meaning.
Author:  Mole [ Mon Apr 26, 2004 4:30 am ]
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It depends on who you are. Or rather, in what context. For instance there's a dude at work who fucking around alot recently, and if my boss tells him to do something which he doesn't do, it's not uncommon for her (though she just demoted her self, no idea who it is now) to say "When I say do *something* I mean do it at once!" But then, It's more common for her to say "Right away!"
Author:  derf [ Mon Apr 26, 2004 5:26 am ]
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It doesnt imply impatience at all. Its quite a formal and precise phrase that also is very forward and no-non-sensical.
Author:  Mole [ Mon Apr 26, 2004 6:10 am ]
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It could be impatient. Like in my previous post, it depends entirely upon how it is said. Like everything.

I fucking hate you, could be a joke, or serious. Like that.
Author:  Franny [ Mon Apr 26, 2004 1:38 pm ]
Post subject: 
it's not impatient, if it was you wouldn't say shall we....you'd say let's do it at once or something like that
Author:  Mole [ Mon Apr 26, 2004 1:57 pm ]
Post subject: 
It depends fool! It can be taken any way, depending on how you say it. by "proper" terms, it might not be impatient. But you could say it with an impatient tone! Such as to 'snap' it.
Author:  J [ Tue Apr 27, 2004 12:26 am ]
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Since i must be one of the members that knows least about english:

Shall is polite i thought, rather formal.
At once does imply impatience imo, it sounds rather strong.

So I wouldn't use these 2 in one sentence because it contradicts, you're not going to ask nicely to a superior for example to move his lazy ass. It could sound impatient or polite, depending how you put the stress in the sentence. But i think it just puts 2 too different emotions together.
Author:  derf [ Tue Apr 27, 2004 7:56 am ]
Post subject: 
Jeez Mole. Of course the tone matters but we cant assume tone when reading text.
Author:  Mole [ Tue Apr 27, 2004 5:16 pm ]
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I know. But its true, and its a language question, not a literature question! (yes, i know language is written too but shush!) anyway, point made now :D
Author:  Franny [ Wed Apr 28, 2004 4:51 am ]
Post subject: 
When it's written down, you have to imagine it in monotone, because it's actually a literature question when it's written down. Therefore it implys no impatience.

Your assuming it to be spoken to you, and therefore is totally ambiguous as you don't know what tone it's spoken in, so can make no judgement on whether it's impatient or not.
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