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  EDline Vol. 7, no. 78     (8 March 2002)

  Editorial mailing list (digest version)
  Published by the Electric Editors
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  Contents:

         Q & A
  [2td]  Imply / infer
            [Offshoot of [2ta] "Disinterested" and "masterful"]

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---[2]-- Q & A --------------------------------------------------


** [2td] Imply / infer
            [Offshoot of [2ta] "Disinterested" and "masterful"]

         Date: Wed, 6 March 2002
         From: Anna Beth McCormack, mccormack@goulburn.net.au

Simon Cauchi wrote:

> Trudgill also discusses imply/infer

Judy Stein wrote:

> Wow. How does he justify the loss of the distinction between
> these two??

Simon replied:

> In brief, he classifies the pair along with similar pairs like
> lend/borrow and teach/learn. The technical name for these pairs
> is _converse terms_. In some dialects people can say "Can I
> lend [= borrow] your bike?" and "The teacher learnt [= taught]
> us geography". "Are you inferring [= implying] I'm stupid?" can
> be classed as a similar usage.

'Imply' and 'infer' are not at all the same thing and should be
used distinctively.

The difference (as for lend/borrow and teach/learn) is
directional. Also, various things can imply, but only a person
(or group) can infer.

'Imply' is what a person (or statement/ report/ data/ argument/
etc.) does when they export a meaning.

  A: 'Your report implies that the cock-up was my fault.'

'Infer' is what a person does when they import a meaning or
create a meaning from evidence.

   B: 'I inferred from the facts that it was your fault.'
   A: 'I infer from your implication that you don't have all the
      facts.'


         -----------------------
         Date: Wed, 6 March 2002
         From: Nick Hudson, hudson@c031.aone.net.au

Anna Beth is of course right, and the infer/imply distinction is
one I cherish as great and bright. However,

  "Great or bright, infers not excellence"

This quotation is from Milton, courtesy not of prodigious memory
but of Johnson's admirable dictionary. The error/usage is very
old.


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