Tony Crawford wrote: > > Tom Cook wrote (on 18 Feb 2002 at 10:41): > > > [You should be more optimistic.] There is no interest here in > > ridiculing anyone, even less someone who formulates his > > criticisms and suggestions constructively. > > > > Here endeth the lesson. ;-) > > How much is less than no interest?
This is a good point, and one which I in fact considered while writing the message. Although it appears non-sensical to say 'even less' than no interest this is a fairly well accepted usage in various idioms. The usage is in fact meant to bring to the reader's mind the very question you have asked; if there is no interest in X, how much must we dislike Y? Tom > > SCNR > > (BTW I'd guess that "would" was an attempt at a past tense of > "will" in the obsolete sense of "want to": "...someone who was > trying to formulate...") Yes, that seems likely. It is somewhat ambiguous, though. Tom
