Talk:don't know

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Latest comment: 4 years ago by Kiwima in topic RFV discussion: March–April 2020
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RFV discussion: March–April 2020[edit]

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for verification (permalink).

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.


Rfv-sense - two senses.

1. Someone who does not give a definite opinion in a questionnaire

We don't have this sense on yes, no or maybe, though we do have the response as a sense in some cases. He was a yes is certainly a common enough phrase, but is it just metonymy? - TheDaveRoss 13:53, 9 March 2020 (UTC)Reply

2. Someone who is unsure about their sexuality

This is just a normal RFV. - TheDaveRoss 13:53, 9 March 2020 (UTC)Reply
The first question seems more a RFD question than an RFV. While most of the time "don't knows" referred to the actual responses rather than the respondants, there were plenty of citations where it referred the the respondant. These are on the citations page. I put them there rather than on the page itself because I agree that it looks like metonymy. However, in case others think this means the term merits inclusion, I also added (to the citations page) another meaning (which also looks like metonymy to me): something one is uncertain about. As for the second definition, I could find no support for it other than cases where someone was conducting a survey about sexuality, in which case it amounts to the first definition. Kiwima (talk) 23:19, 9 March 2020 (UTC)Reply

RFV-resolved. The sexuality sense fails. I am going to pass the other two senses, and leave it to an RFD to decide whether the other senses should be deleted as metonymy. Kiwima (talk) 21:43, 12 April 2020 (UTC)Reply