top | item 45260069

(no title)

efdee | 5 months ago

I can't think of any situation where "let's" does not mean "let us"?

discuss

order

danaris|5 months ago

You and simonask are speaking at different levels of literality.

Yes, literally, "let's" expands to "let us". But idiomatically, "let's/let us <do this thing>" does not mean "allow us to <do this thing>"; it means "I am requesting that we now <do this thing> together".

Now, I'm not entirely sure why simonask felt this level of literality was a useful one to bring up here, but it is true.

efdee|5 months ago

True, but the point was not that they were asking permission, it's the "let us do this together" meaning to which the OP takes offense. He feels like it implies he cannot do it on his own.

tommica|5 months ago

"Let's go!"

lionkor|5 months ago

Literally "let us go", there's no way around the literal meaning