Quote:
I'd better let you get on
I also use this, yeah, but we are native speakers, I'd put the language factor in here.
Each European country has it's own flavour of English and here it's pretty direct and literal.
For this person I have had very positive interactions otherwise, so i am comfortable to dismiss it,
but it doesn't change my view that broadly there is this insidious hierarchy thing.
Quote:
Taken literally, there's little difference between that and "you're dismissed,"
I would contest this. The word "dismiss" is only used from a context of higher to lower status role-power, and while
"I had better let you go" has some elements of power since you are doing the letting, the "had better" part
is used when you should do something that you are being lazy about - "i had better fix that", this places a small amount of
blame on the speaker, suggesting they are overstepping themselves by continuing the interaction. There is a lot of very British
context here, but the presence of that part adds a very different spin to the expression than the curt "you are dismissed."
Today, 6:44 am
