Sir, – Today’s story of the immigrant doctor confusing Irish sarcasm for an expression of genuine intention reminds one of an old philosophy joke (“’I will, yeah’: How a very Irish phrase presented a challenge for an immigrant doctor,” April 13th).
A British logician is addressing a New York audience. He laments the fact that in ordinary language, the use of two negatives to make a positive statement is not mirrored by the combination of two positives making a negative statement. This provokes a woman in the audience to pipe up with “yeah, yeah”. – Yours, etc,
ANDREW SMITH,
Ballymore Eustace,
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Co Kildare.
