I can see how in context and in the stream of speech the intended meaning comes through, but I personally agree with the person stating the opposite side - this sentence doesn't make sense to me as written. As written, after twisting my mind around it, it implies that a smart person would not run away from a fight, but he is too dumb to do what a smart person would do. He's so dumb he couldn't do what a smart person would do (smart person's action = not run away from a fight = stay and fight). He can't stay and fight, he's too dumb for that, so he stupidly runs away. But then I'm not in the fandom and don't know him, so I don't have the context to override that.
I was 12 when they reported Neil Armstrong as saying "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" and I immediately thought "that doesn't make sense". He probably meant "a man" and the "a" got swallowed up by radio distance, but it bugged me to have the makes-no-sense version plastered everywhere.
Here's a fun ambiguity of negative scope argument for you - "you need not X, nor must you Y". Does that mean you must not Y (Y is forbidden) or you don't have to Y (Y is optional)? I looked for an explanation after a prof used that construction in an assignment, but couldn't find it discussed - examples I found were about half and half.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2017-03-12 09:17 pm (UTC)I can see how in context and in the stream of speech the intended meaning comes through, but I personally agree with the person stating the opposite side - this sentence doesn't make sense to me as written. As written, after twisting my mind around it, it implies that a smart person would not run away from a fight, but he is too dumb to do what a smart person would do. He's so dumb he couldn't do what a smart person would do (smart person's action = not run away from a fight = stay and fight). He can't stay and fight, he's too dumb for that, so he stupidly runs away. But then I'm not in the fandom and don't know him, so I don't have the context to override that.
I was 12 when they reported Neil Armstrong as saying "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" and I immediately thought "that doesn't make sense". He probably meant "a man" and the "a" got swallowed up by radio distance, but it bugged me to have the makes-no-sense version plastered everywhere.
Here's a fun ambiguity of negative scope argument for you - "you need not X, nor must you Y". Does that mean you must not Y (Y is forbidden) or you don't have to Y (Y is optional)? I looked for an explanation after a prof used that construction in an assignment, but couldn't find it discussed - examples I found were about half and half.