------ Didn't we all take English 101? Connotation vs intention ------ Not really (did my undergrad in Korea and I don't remember such subject covered there... Or it could be my failing memory). :p ------ Once the words leave you, it's upto the readers to comprehend in anyway the reader perceives the intention to be, whether intended or not. ------ I can agree that the listener can have a different perception than the speaker intended. However, I don't know whether a speaker can wash her/his hands whenever his/her words leave her/him. I am not good with examples and have no legal backgrounds, so that's not where I am basing my opinions. But I think there are many ambiguous cases depending on the time, the place and the people involved. I think it comes down to the social perceptions or agreements (since more than one person is involved). Of course, this could become a big deal when the society (which could be your peers, your family, your town or your country, etc.) becomes very diverse. It truly takes much more effort to maintain a diverse society than a monolithic one. Well, I start to ramble again... :) Anyway, there is an interesting (and somewhat related) story in the news. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21973378/ A British school teacher in Sudan was jailed and expelled (or waiting to be) from the country because she let her students (7-year olds) named a teddy bear (which belonged to one of the students) Mohammed. The name received the most votes from the kids because it was also the name of one of the popular kids in the class. But Sudanese is claiming that she had desecrated the Prophet Mohammed. Oh, well... I am not saying that the Sudansese are correct. I think they are over-reacting (probably because the teacher was a Westerner). For that matter, they should also prison any parents who name their children Mohammed. What I was trying to say (I think) is that we shouldn't just brush off the differences of the intention and the perception and walk away. If we did not try to understand why the other side came to such a conclusion (of the intention and the perception), we may not survive the fragility of our diverse society. 홍 (EG0142/EE0031/DZ0179/DV0048/DU0183/DT0121/AU25).