Democratic Primaries

thesquanderer

(12,872 posts)

22. People don't always speak in perfect, unambiguous grammar.

Thu Aug 1, 2019, 02:27 PM

Aug 2019

In colloquial speech, there is not necessarily any difference between
"When asked about her marijuana use, she laughed about it"
and
"She laughed about it when asked about her marijuana use."
Which part comes before and which comes after does not matter there.

So while grammatically ambiguous, Gabbard's sentence can easily be read the way I explained it. And if you can read a sentence two ways, and one way makes logical sense (Harris laughed in discussing her own use of marijuana) and the other makes no sense (that when asked about her own marijuana use, Harris laughed about incarcerating people over it), I'll go with the one that makes sense.

If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden

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Harris did not laugh about putting 1500 people in jail for MJ violations as Gabbard claimed [View all] uponit7771 Aug 2019 OP

Joe Biden didn't work with segregationists on segregationist goals... LincolnRossiter Aug 2019 #1

um bigtree Aug 2019 #34

I don't believe the claims, but shouldn't ABC have fact-checked it and not just reported on the hlthe2b Aug 2019 #2

they could have easily done that, IMO. Why didn't they? CTyankee Aug 2019 #4

Gabbard is a Russian operative as far as I'm concerned underpants Aug 2019 #3

+1, that was an allegation I couldn't ignore uponit7771 Aug 2019 #5

It's a part of politics. NT SouthernProgressive Aug 2019 #6

We should not accept this in Dem primary anymore, 2016 was it uponit7771 Aug 2019 #7

It will be a part of the next primaries as well. SouthernProgressive Aug 2019 #10

I don't think that's the accusation FBaggins Aug 2019 #8

I quoted her uponit7771 Aug 2019 #12

You misread the quote, as I pointed out when you posted this earlier. highplainsdem Aug 2019 #17

And then added your own interpretation to what she meant by "it" FBaggins Aug 2019 #20

She laughed about smoking weed 5starlib Aug 2019 #9

The word "it" presumably refers to the part that comes after, not the part that comes before. thesquanderer Aug 2019 #11

This is false, when there's a before and after reference uponit7771 Aug 2019 #13

One is singular the other plural unc70 Aug 2019 #15

Distraction, when there's a before and after reference the it always about the first uponit7771 Aug 2019 #18

People don't always speak in perfect, unambiguous grammar. thesquanderer Aug 2019 #22

I'm pretty sure that attack was planned and prepared qazplm135 Aug 2019 #33

Good point, it could have been worded to be INTENTIONALLY ambiguous, thesquanderer Aug 2019 #35

Sigh. As I explained when you first posted about this in GD, and I replied before noticing you'd highplainsdem Aug 2019 #14

Your first statement is false on his face I can read the quote uponit7771 Aug 2019 #16

You're reading it incorrectly. Or do you think that Huffington Post and other media sources that highplainsdem Aug 2019 #19

She laughed when she was asked if she smoked weed on the breakfast club radio show... Demsrule86 Aug 2019 #23

Yes, I know. That's what I said, and why I posted the link to the interview. Which got a lot of highplainsdem Aug 2019 #26

Yes some misunderstood Gabbard....Kamala knew though...and she did put pot smokers in jail...it Demsrule86 Aug 2019 #28

And now Harris says the next debate needs to be "fully focused" on Trump. In other highplainsdem Aug 2019 #29

This! Suddenly it's different Thekaspervote Aug 2019 #37

Yes. You can see her doing that in the link to CNN video that I posted.. highplainsdem Aug 2019 #27

Gabbards quote is clear, your grmammtically wrong uponit7771 Aug 2019 #30

Again, news sources understood what Gabbard said. So did Harris and her campaign highplainsdem Aug 2019 #31

This might help... Demsrule86 Aug 2019 #25

If you are acting as a grammar Nazi flotsam Aug 2019 #38

I found a radio show where Tulsi got this... Demsrule86 Aug 2019 #21

See reply 14 above for a link to video of the interview. highplainsdem Aug 2019 #24

Reading comprehension tells me that your OP title is wrong. demmiblue Aug 2019 #32

As so many have explained Progressive dog Aug 2019 #36