"Distrust implies informed judgment, mistrust implies doubt and uncertainty. Both legitimate words."
And with this definition "Utterly" makes even less sense. "I distrust Bob." = based on Bob's previous behaviour, I guess Bob's next action will be evil with 80% probability and "utterly distrust" = 99% probability. It is a grammatically well-formed sentence, but it makes no sense in terms of Alex's previous interactions with her eldest sister.
Alex is fully justified to resent Lilith at 200%, but Trust is a different issue.
"I mistrust Charles." = I have limited information about Charles, so I am going to guess that Charles' next action will be evil with 45% probability. But what does "utterly distrust" mean? I am absolutely certain that Charles' next action will be evil with 50% probability; not 49, not 51, but exactly 50. That is a very specific level of uncertainty, Captain.
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Date: 2012-03-03 10:37 pm (UTC)"Distrust implies informed judgment, mistrust implies doubt and uncertainty. Both legitimate words."
And with this definition "Utterly" makes even less sense. "I distrust Bob." = based on Bob's previous behaviour, I guess Bob's next action will be evil with 80% probability and "utterly distrust" = 99% probability. It is a grammatically well-formed sentence, but it makes no sense in terms of Alex's previous interactions with her eldest sister.
Alex is fully justified to resent Lilith at 200%, but Trust is a different issue.
"I mistrust Charles." = I have limited information about Charles, so I am going to guess that Charles' next action will be evil with 45% probability. But what does "utterly distrust" mean? I am absolutely certain that Charles' next action will be evil with 50% probability; not 49, not 51, but exactly 50. That is a very specific level of uncertainty, Captain.