[Lazarus] Error messages: cannot versus can't

[Mark Morgan Lloyd]

José Mejuto wrote:

> I am spanish so my English is what here is called "average" where in 
> fact it is "low level" (spanish people usually thinks their English is 
> far better than it really is).
> 
> My "low level" does not have any problem with "can't", "don't", "I'm" 
> and some other basic contractions but things like "ain't", "'ll" or the 
> "'s" which can be replaced by "is" or "has" forces us to stop reading 
> and think in the context in order to catch the real meaning.
> 
> So from my point of view basic contractions are OK, but others should be 
> avoided as much as possible. For us (non native) is much easy to write 
> something wrong using contractions.

"Ain't" is only acceptable in the context of "realist" literature, where 
the author is attempting to reproduce somebody's accent and dialect. The 
'll and 'd suffixed to I, you, he and so on are fairly common, but at 
least they're fairly unambiguous contractions of "will" and "would"... 
I'd not really expect them in the context of error messages. I agree 
about 's, it's so commonly abused that it's treated as a joke.

There are some archaicisms which will be found in particular idioms, 
such as "ill-gotten gains" and "hence or otherwise". There's also 
localised substitutions e.g. "when I was at the works somebody told me 
to get out of the road" but I'd never expect to find that in respectable 
English.

-- 
Mark Morgan Lloyd
markMLl .AT. telemetry.co .DOT. uk

[Opinions above are the author's, not those of his employers or colleagues]