..heh...[humph?]

[Mark A. Mandel]

Thomas Paikeday <t.paikeday at SYMPATICO.CA> writes:

>>>>>
If I may stray a little off-topic, another interjection that I don't
find defined adequately in dictionaries is "humph" (and variations such
as "hmmm"). When it is uttered as a question, "hmm" sounds like a
challenge to me, as in "I think you are wrong." Response: "Hmm?" which
is not an expression of rumination, contemplation, etc. I have tried to
do justice to this second meaning in my User's(R) Webster.
<<<<<

In newsgroup or email-list usage, I use "Hmm." as the opening of a
contemplative response, ~= "You've given me something to think about." But
I don't leave it bare; I add as much explicitly, with whatever details are
appropriate.

-- Mark
       Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/