From: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
To: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+huawei@kernel.org>
Cc: "Bagas Sanjaya" <bagasdotme@gmail.com>,
"Linux Kernel Mailing List" <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
"Linux Documentation" <linux-doc@vger.kernel.org>,
"Linux Kernel Workflows" <workflows@vger.kernel.org>,
"Jonathan Neuschäfer" <j.neuschaefer@gmx.net>,
"Fox Foster" <fox@tardis.ed.ac.uk>,
"Federico Vaga" <federico.vaga@vaga.pv.it>,
"Randy Dunlap" <rdunlap@infradead.org>,
"Stephen Rothwell" <sfr@canb.auug.org.au>,
"Konstantin Ryabitsev" <konstantin@linuxfoundation.org>,
"Matthew Wilcox" <willy@infradead.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] Documentation: management-style: Reword "had better known the details" phrase
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2025 05:28:52 -0600 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <877byp9f63.fsf@trenco.lwn.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20250827113312.62162725@foz.lan>
Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+huawei@kernel.org> writes:
> As a non-native English speaker, "had better know" looks really
> weird on my eyes, as, at least for me, "know" is a verb.
>
> Heh, I just discovered today by looking on a dictionary:
>
> https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/know
>
> That know can informally be used as a noun (a shortcut for
> knowledge?).
"know" is a verb as used in the sentence in question too.
> For me as a non-native English speaker, when one writes:
>
> They "most likely know" (know here is a verb)
>
> or:
> They "had better knowledge" (knowledge is a name)
>
> Things become clearer.
But neither of those say the same thing. Read "had better know" as
"really should know" and you get a lot closer. I guess I didn't realize
that it was such a strange construction.
Languages are fun.
jon
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-08-27 11:29 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 13+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-08-27 4:48 [PATCH v2] Documentation: management-style: Reword "had better known the details" phrase Bagas Sanjaya
2025-08-27 5:17 ` Randy Dunlap
2025-08-27 5:41 ` Jonathan Corbet
2025-08-27 9:33 ` Mauro Carvalho Chehab
2025-08-27 11:28 ` Jonathan Corbet [this message]
2025-08-27 12:48 ` Mauro Carvalho Chehab
2025-08-27 13:05 ` Jonathan Corbet
2025-08-27 13:49 ` Mauro Carvalho Chehab
2025-08-27 14:10 ` Mauro Carvalho Chehab
2025-08-28 4:12 ` Bagas Sanjaya
2025-08-28 4:18 ` Randy Dunlap
2025-08-28 23:08 ` Bagas Sanjaya
2025-08-28 23:19 ` Laurent Pinchart
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