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From: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
To: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+huawei@kernel.org>
Cc: Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@gmail.com>, Linux Kernel Mailing List
 <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>, Linux Documentation
 <linux-doc@vger.kernel.org>, Linux Kernel Workflows
 <workflows@vger.kernel.org>, Jonathan =?utf-8?Q?Neusch=C3=A4fer?=
 <j.neuschaefer@gmx.net>,
 Fox Foster <fox@tardis.ed.ac.uk>, Federico Vaga
 <federico.vaga@vaga.pv.it>, Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org>, Stephen
 Rothwell <sfr@canb.auug.org.au>, Konstantin Ryabitsev
 <konstantin@linuxfoundation.org>, Matthew Wilcox <willy@infradead.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] Documentation: management-style: Reword "had better
 known the details" phrase
In-Reply-To: <20250827113312.62162725@foz.lan>
References: <20250827044848.17374-1-bagasdotme@gmail.com>
 <87wm6p9v8l.fsf@trenco.lwn.net> <20250827113312.62162725@foz.lan>
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2025 05:28:52 -0600
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Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+huawei@kernel.org> writes:

> As a non-native English speaker, "had better know" looks really
> weird on my eyes, as, at least for me, "know" is a verb.
>
> Heh, I just discovered today by looking on a dictionary:
>
> 	https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/know
>
> That know can informally be used as a noun (a shortcut for
> knowledge?).

"know" is a verb as used in the sentence in question too.

> For me as a non-native English speaker, when one writes:
>
> 	They "most likely know"		(know here is a verb)
>
> or:
> 	They "had better knowledge"	(knowledge is a name)
>
> Things become clearer.

But neither of those say the same thing.  Read "had better know" as
"really should know" and you get a lot closer.  I guess I didn't realize
that it was such a strange construction.

Languages are fun.

jon