Originally published at: "I never said we should kill him" can mean seven different things | Boing Boing
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Depends on who him is.
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I never said we should escalate from sandwiches to people.
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Good cue to re-watch Coppola’s The Conversation.
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I knew this same topic had been endlessly debated (73 comments) here recently - thanks for saving me the trouble of finding it.
I never said BoingBoing always repeats things may also have seven meanings. Or just one. 
(Just like I never said Frauenfelder’s the worst culprit.)
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There’s at least 21 further nuanced meanings with secondary stress
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Still trying to figure out what meaning the italicization of should brings to the sentence.
To me it suggests that you instead said you would, could, did, will, or (other modal verb) kill him. Just not “should” specifically.
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In other words, tone is tricky
As evidenced by the pissy fit thrown at me last week by an ostensibly grown adult man on facebook, joined by his (presumed) friend who accused me of “sending the most snarky reply” and asserting that I “owe him an apology right now!”
My crime: leaving off the smiley face icon
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You never did the Kenosha Kid.
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“I meant to say we MUST kill him”
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not to mention the simple eighth meaning of the sentence when used as an example about word stress! 
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You beat me to it!!
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