I hate to bitch but bitch I must

[Bob Hall]

On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 05:36:43PM -0400, PJ wrote:
> Bob Hall wrote:
> > On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 02:34:40AM +0000, Mark wrote:
> >   
> >> Actually, this has got very little to do with being a native English
> >> speaker or not. It's ere a matter of intonation (which, in writing, can
> >> only be conveyed to a certain degree, of course). 'Should' can certainly
> >> mean "Don't try that." As in:
> >>
> >> Will the ice hold me?
> >> Well, technically it should.
> >>
> >> (Meaning: it probably will, but I'm not overly confident.)
> >>     
> >
> > Actually, what's happening here is dropping part of a sentence. It's
> > common in English to shorten
> > 	Yea, it should work, but it doesn't.
> >   
> Absolutely not! There is nothing to suggest either statement above. If
> one says it should work, it can mean (of course, it changes within
> different contexts) that all is ok and normal conditions (whatever they
> may be) will allow things to function correctly. There is certainly no
> implication about confidence... where do you get that? 

>From common English usage.