"To do a poll in the fashion Leslie is suggesting would involve visiting every country in the world - LOL!"
I didn't say that exactly, but I can understand how I may have given that impression.
Polling is a science. That was impressed on me in freshman English class at Auburn. My first essay involved me taking a poll as a class assignment option. The instructor was very adament about the method used, and I guess that's why I feel that way. But she was right, and although I have rudimentary knowledge about grammar (Spanish degree) and one graduate level transformational grammar course under my belt, all I know is linguistics is very complex, but darn interesting.
Hehe, I racked my brain trying to find linguistic proof (on the net) your simple question was actually four questions imo, though I can't prove it.
So maybe it did me some good...it hurts to think...LOL. What I discovered is that questions are some of the most complex sentence structures of all. Even the experts have a hard time analyzing questions. The rules are fascinating...every sentence is broken down to its separate parts and analyzed, it's almost mathematical in its precision, and there are many varients of sentence meaning depending on where the words are placed. That is uncanny to me.
So, I can't make a argument with you based on that. If I could I would.
Carry on Beet1e. I disagree with you most of the time. I disagree this time, but I'm not bent out of shape too much, considering it's you.
I enjoy reading your posts, but not the ones about refering to my countrymen as idiots and nuts, especially when I agree with them.
Les