Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2015 April 16

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April 16

yes/no

Hello, which answer is correct? Example A: You have nothing to do? —Yes, I have nothing to do. Example B: You have nothing to do? —No, I have nothing to do. 雞雞 (talk) 21:00, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

The question is incorrect. It should be "Do you have nothing to do?", and then the answer would be either "Yes, I have nothing to do" or "No, I have something to do." Now, it gets complicated with negative questions. "Don't you have anything to do?" would be answerd by, "Yes, I have something to do." or "No, I don't have anything to do." Yes = positive, and agrees with the verb in the answer. No = negative, and likewise agrees with the verb in the answer, unlike in Chinese, where 'dui' means 'yes, what you have just said is correct' and 'bu' means 'no, what you have just said is incorrect.', the same as with answers to positive questions in English. The problem here is that the OP's question translates directly from Chinese as "Don't you have something/anything to do?" as there is no way other than that to ask if a person has 'nothing to do'. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 21:24, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Yes would be affirming that you have nothing to do, so that's correct. However, some people tend to respond to prompts rather than the words within those prompts, so even some native English speakers might answer that question with "no, I have nothing to do." In this case, "you have nothing to do" and "do you have anything to do" both belong to the same prompt. What do I mean by prompts? When I was working retail, all the other cashiers would ask "How are you today?" I would ask "did you find everything alright today?" Most customers respond to me with answers appropriate for "How are you today?" instead of what I actually asked. Ian.thomson (talk) 21:29, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

Maybe because your question was ambiguous. It could have meant "Did you succeed in finding the things you were looking for?", or it could have meant "Was everything in an acceptable condition?". -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:44, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

Neither of those questions concerns the customers' wellbeing, however. "I'm fine, and you?" is very much a response to "how are you today?" Ian.thomson (talk) 21:47, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

It could also be construed as specifically today, as compared to other days when they may not have had a satisfactory experience. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 23:11, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

I tend to answer such questions with "My parole officer has advised me not to discuss it." That usually satisfies'em. μηδείς (talk) 21:50, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

I love it when I go to the doctor and he asks me "How are you?" My answer always is, "You're supposed to tell me that." KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 00:38, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

That's old-school thinking, KT. Doctors are busy people and haven't got time for trivial details like signs and symptoms. In these latter days of internet-based self-diagnosis, you get to the point straight away and tell the doctor exactly what's wrong, and he/she says "OK, I'll prescribe X for that. That'll be $100 for my valuable time. Bye. Next." -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 01:12, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Wrong! My nurse-practitioner charges $80. μηδείς (talk) 01:39, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Ah, you poor people. It's free in the UK. :) KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 11:35, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Don't kid yourself. No charge per service =/= free. UK taxes, high by international standards, pay for your "free" health service, and they apply equally to the healthy and the sick. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 12:06, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Is that what you use for the "not equals" sign in Aussieland ? It's ≠ here, or perhaps ~= or != or <> if you lack that special character. StuRat (talk) 18:30, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

It's just my personal way. Thanks for the reminder about ≠. Now, I need to tell you that "Aussie" always refers to a person, not to the Great South Land. Imagine if I said I'm going to Yank or Kiwi or Pommie for a holiday.  :) -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 21:35, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

OK, I tacked on land. StuRat (talk) 22:06, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

On the principle that there "...followeth not the undoing of any man, but the loss lighteth rather easily upon many than heavy upon few" (the dictum underlying the Common Law relating to insurance). Alansplodge (talk) 18:07, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

I know, Jack. Plus, we have National Insurance, a bit like buying a pre-paid top-up regularly for a mobile you might only use half a dozen times in a lifetime. Immigrants who are not working and random foreign tourists here, however, do not have that problem. It's free for them, too. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 14:41, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Non-EU residents are supposed to pay for NHS treatment, but aren't often billed because of the admin costs. However, this is the subject of a recent clampdown - see NHS hospital patients may have to show ID to access treatment. Alansplodge (talk) 17:57, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Yes, I was going to mention that, but the situation is still slightly fuzzy, and is not being implemented just yet. We'll have to wait until Cameron and Clegg abdicate for everything to be sorted out. The two of them can't even decide which house to live at. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 18:49, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

"But we are the people of England; and we have not spoken yet.". [1] Alansplodge (talk) 17:58, 18 April 2015 (UTC)

Why has that beautiful poem never come my way before now? Thanks for sharing, Mr Splodge. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 19:40, 18 April 2015 (UTC)—

Nice one, thanks. Posted it on FB. KägeTorä - (^影_虎) (もしもし！) 20:46, 18 April 2015 (UTC)

I thought KageTora might like it. I love the way that the worst thing that GKC can say about oppressive bureaucrats is "Their doors are shut in the evenings; and they know no songs." Shame upon them. Alansplodge (talk) 23:40, 18 April 2015 (UTC)

Thank you for sharing that great poem Mr Splodge, I too have nicked it for FB. I must take issue with the above discussion, or part of it though: people who pay no income tax in the UK still contribute to the NHS and the other State institutions, as we still pay VAT: indeed, every time you buy anything you contribute because what you buy goes to pay other people's income taxes. (BTW this point gets conveniently overlooked so often it annoys me, so I do pick people up on it.) --TammyMoet (talk) 14:16, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

If you're going to pick KageTora up on that point, it's probably also worth pointing out that National Insurance has relatively little to do with the NHS. You don't have to pay National Insurance to receive treatment and only a small part of the proceeds raised from National Insurance specifically fund the NHS, the rest goes into the National Insurance Fund. Most of the funding of the NHS comes instead from general taxation, as TammyMoet mentions. Paying National Insurance gives you access to a number of welfare benefits, not least the UK State Pension. Valiantis (talk) 21:02, 22 April 2015 (UTC)