use Perl

• Been there, tried to do that (Score:2)

  by merlyn (47)

  my perlmonks posting on question v doubt [perlmonks.org].

  Seems to most commonly be mistaken by asian-language speakers... perhaps the concepts overlap more completely in asian languages.

  --
  

  • Randal L. Schwartz
  • Stonehenge
  • Re: (Score:1)

    by slanning (5049)

    From the last comment in that thread, it seems that this meaning of "doubt" is commonly used in Indian English. I don't see any reason, then, why the usage is "incorrect" any more than, say, all the differences in meanings of the words between British and American English [wikipedia.org].
• Doubt means a deliberate suspension of judgement? (Score:1)

  by btilly (5037)

  I doubt that.
  
  Question, can you provide me with a sentence in which the word doubt means that you are suspending judgement? By this I do not mean a sentence with doubt in it that shows that you are suspending judgement. That's easy, "We chose to continue despite our doubts." I mean a sentence where doubt clearly has that meaning.
  
  Thanks,
  Ben
• Doubt and Decision-Making (Score:1)

  by naughton (4417)

  I doubt the helpfulness of comparing "question" and "doubt" directly. ;^) Most dictionaries assign several shades of meaning to these terms, but here are two from WordNet that are similar to yours, but show more clearly what I mean:

  question

  a sentence of inquiry that asks for a reply

  doubt

  the state of being unsure of something

  You seem to be objecting to assumptions about the state of mind behind a question. While a question certainly can be motivated by doubt arising from unfriendly distru
  • Re: (Score:1)

    by jtrammell (6222)

    Those definitions came from m-w.com (in this context I looked at the noun definitions).

    My motivation for this post is my experience with English speakers of Indian extraction using these terms interchangeably; I've never seen it with other ethnicities, Asian or otherwise. This is entirely a nitpicky post, and I have no illusions that it will affect anyone's decision to speak English more clearly.

    In my own parlance, a question is a statement used to elicit information from someone: I asked her a questio