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What's your take on saying "sure" when you mean "yes"?

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dolo amber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 07:50 AM
Original message
What's your take on saying "sure" when you mean "yes"?
I see nothing wrong with this, and do it often. I've had people ask me "Do you mean 'yes'?"... I was unaware "sure" had any other connotations other than positive. My mom (the English professor) once asked me to stop using it because she said it sounds "shifty".

What's that about? :shrug:
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kick-ass-bob Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 07:51 AM
Response to Original message
1. its only shifty if you say it like
suuuuuuuuure. :eyes:

:P
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dolo amber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 07:58 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. To think that you would imply that *I* am EVER sarcastic...
*tsk*

:P
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kick-ass-bob Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 07:59 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. suuuuuuuure.
:eyes:


:bounce:
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Magrittes Pipe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 08:27 AM
Response to Original message
4. Sure.
It's a'ight.
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Hugin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 08:31 AM
Response to Original message
5. What's your take on the misuse of the word, "just"?
Truly, a burning question.
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dolo amber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 08:36 AM
Response to Reply #5
9. I don't so much misuse that
as mistype is as jsut. All the time. It's my #1 offender. :mad:
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progmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 08:31 AM
Response to Original message
6. i think your mom is shifty
:)
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tjwmason Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 08:33 AM
Response to Original message
7. I do it
also "of course" in the same manner.
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dolo amber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 08:40 AM
Response to Reply #7
11. Yes, but see you're British and therefore
don't count as your people have more sense by default. :D
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eyesroll Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 08:36 AM
Response to Original message
8. It's OK to me.
I probably wouldn't use it in formal writing, but I probably wouldn't even notice in casual conversation.

"Do you want to go to a movie?"
"Yes."
"Sure."
"Okay."

Those all sound appropriate to me. :shrug:

I'm attending (joy of joys) a copy-editing thing tomorrow; I'll ask the grammar mavens.
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dolo amber Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 08:39 AM
Response to Reply #8
10. Grammar maven mom says it's
"non-committal". She maintains if you mean 'yes', you'll say 'yes'. If you DON'T mean 'yes', but realize you probably have no choice, you say 'sure'.

I think progmom's right. :D
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crispini Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 08:42 AM
Response to Reply #10
12. I agree.
I find myself using "sure" a lot in those kinds of situations.
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JimmyJazz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 08:45 AM
Response to Original message
13. It depends on the tone in your voice
Edited on Wed Sep-21-05 08:46 AM by JimmyJazz
"sure" can sound like "well, since I've got nothing better to do." ----> Like this: :shrug:

OR

"sure" can sound like "What a great idea." ---> Like this: :bounce:

:hi:



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progmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 08:50 AM
Response to Reply #13
14. progspawn has taken to saying "sure! sure!"
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aePrime Donating Member (676 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 10:24 AM
Response to Original message
15. I use sure all of the time
I say it to mean yes, but it drives my wife nuts, because she thinks I'm being non-committal. I keep telling her, "If I say 'sure', I mean 'yes'!"
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no name no slogan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 10:32 AM
Response to Original message
16. I say "fo shizzle"
that way nobody misunderstands you.
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Patiod Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 10:33 AM
Response to Original message
17. Was unable to say anything else to Eric Idle
Don't run into many celebrities in Philadelphia. My SO still teases me about it:

EI: Did you like the show?
Me: Sure!
EI: Do you want me to sign this shirt?
Me: Sure!
EI: Here at the bottom?
Me: Sure!
SO: She does have other words in her vocabulary, I promise.
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sundog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 10:33 AM
Response to Original message
18. "sure" isn't shifty, you are
i think that's what your mom meant :P
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redqueen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-21-05 10:37 AM
Response to Original message
19. Seems fine to me.
I get what she means... but I'm not that picky or overly analytical.
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