A comment composed in answer to a question about life in the North of Ireland during the "Troubles" ended up being more interesting for its grammatical content than for its social implications.
Here it is:
"I will never bother to write down the experiences of visiting Belfast in the early 1970s.
Suffice to say, since I have both Catholic and Protestant ancestors and am terrified of guns the combination of warring factions with the army thrown in made shopping a very difficult experience indeed.
The gun problem ensures I will never visit the US."
Tempted to use "shall" in the last sentence, it became an issue.. not strong enough in expressing intention.
Apparently, US English has the same reaction to the use of "shall" as that expressed by speakers of Hiberno-English. It is assumed to be pretentious. However, "shall" leaves one's options open while "will" is more insistant.
Where guns are concerned, one cannot insist strongly enough.
I stopped visiting the North of Ireland very early on.
This may sound like prejudice, but fear, learned young, is difficult to cure.
Here it is:
"I will never bother to write down the experiences of visiting Belfast in the early 1970s.
Suffice to say, since I have both Catholic and Protestant ancestors and am terrified of guns the combination of warring factions with the army thrown in made shopping a very difficult experience indeed.
The gun problem ensures I will never visit the US."
Tempted to use "shall" in the last sentence, it became an issue.. not strong enough in expressing intention.
Apparently, US English has the same reaction to the use of "shall" as that expressed by speakers of Hiberno-English. It is assumed to be pretentious. However, "shall" leaves one's options open while "will" is more insistant.
Where guns are concerned, one cannot insist strongly enough.
I stopped visiting the North of Ireland very early on.
This may sound like prejudice, but fear, learned young, is difficult to cure.
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