decline

[David Daniel]

Sure, but I don't think the passenger politely refused. You can even throw
nuance into it, in that a defense lawyer might say his client declined to go
along with the cop who was trying to arrest him (as if it had been a request
and a polite refusal), and the cops would say "refused" (order and
disobedience). In general, it seems to me you decline something that
normally you would be expected to accept.
DAD


Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
Subject:      Re: decline
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Mac Dictionary:  [ with infinitive ] politely refuse to do something: =
the company declined to comment.

Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/decline) just has "To refuse, =
forbear."

Oxford dictionaries =
(http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/decline)=
: Politely refuse to do something: the company declined to comment

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA

Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/home

On Aug 27, 2014, at 8:01 AM, David Daniel <david at COARSECOURSES.COM> =
wrote:

>From CNN:
In the case of this week's United inflight battle, the flight
attendant reportedly told the man to remove the Knee Defender device, but he
declined." Shouldn't that be "refused"?
DAD

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