(Steven's gonna kick himself for missing this one.)
***************
Dear Mr Buckley: In a recent column you state: "The statistics here are very firm. If you don't smoke until the age 21, the chances are 90 percent that you will not smoke ever." Sorry, firm statistics or not, it cannot be. If you don't smoke until age 21, the chances are 100 percent that you will smoke. "Not X until Y" entails "X at or after Y." The logic of the word until is richer than that of before, which is, we infer, what you meant. So if one says, "She did not smoke before age 21," one can sensibly add "and she did not smoke after that age either." But replacement of before with until yields a contradiction when the addition is present.
Paul M Postal/Eve Tauss
Scarsdale, NY
Dear Mr Postal/Ms Tauss: Nice going, and you are absolutely right.
Cordially,
WFB
**************
I'm going to have to write a letter to WFB and get him to clarify that modern English usage rules do not apply to translated historical texts.
SD
"The statistics here are very firm. If you don't smoke until the age 21, the chances are 90 percent that you will not smoke ever."
Sorry, firm statistics or not, it cannot be. If you don't smoke until age 21, the chances are 100 percent that you will smoke.
"Not X until Y" entails "X at or after Y." The logic of the word until is richer than that of before, which is, we infer, what you meant. So if one says,
"She did not smoke before age 21," one can sensibly add "and she did not smoke after that age either."
But replacement of before with until yields a contradiction when the addition is present.
Paul M Postal/Eve Tauss
Mt 1: 25. And knew her not till before she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
I see no problem taking care of this little detail.
But don't forget,
Why don't you ask him if he knows where the "original" Aramaic is while you're at it.. LOL