"should/ would" opinions please

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks all.

I think Doug is correct.

J


On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 3:12 PM, Douglas G. Wilson <douglas at nb.net> wrote:

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> Poster:       "Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "should/ would" opinions please
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> On 4/28/2013 12:50 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
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> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      "should/ would" opinions please
> >
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> >
> > Here's an interesting "should/would" question with a dash of "might" for
> > those more attuned to 19th C. nuance than I am.
> >
> > In an 1881 essay on the battle of Shiloh, Ambrose Bierce concludes by
> > waxing poetic in the following terms:
> >
> > "Ah, Youth, there is no such wizard as thou! =85[G]ild for but one
> moment t=
> > he
> > drear and somber scenes of to-day, and I will willingly surrender an
> other
> > [sic] life than the one that I should have thrown away at Shiloh."
> >
> > I can't believe (from the broader context) he means that he "should" have
> > thrown his life away; merely that he "might" have (by being killed).
>  (The
> > "other" life involved, in contrast to his adventurous youth, is his drab
> > post-bellum existence.)
> >
> > Whatever Bierce may mean, I don't feel that my sprakgefool is sharp
> enough
> > to determine the nuances of "should" and "would" in this case.
> >
> > How do others interpret Bierce's meaning?
> --
>
> I think "an other" = "a different" in usual modern writing, not exactly
> the same as usual modern "another".
>
> I think "should have" = "would have": I think in isolation it is
> ambiguous as to whether an element of will[ingness] is implied: perhaps
> this would be clear to one who has carefully read the whole piece (and
> other Bierce).
>
> So I would think
>
> <<and I will willingly surrender an other life than the one that I
> should have thrown away at Shiloh>>
>
> can be paraphrased
>
> <<and I will willingly surrender my current life, which is [so]
> different from my youthful life, which I would have thrown away at Shiloh>>
>
> with
>
> <<would have thrown away>>
>
> meaning either
>
> <<might have thrown away (had things gone a little differently)>>
>
> or
>
> <<would willingly have thrown away / risked (in the recklessness of my
> youth)>>
>
> [Of course, when one waxes, some fine features may be lost.]
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
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