User talk:Bitter Lily/CompleCCities of English

Purloining the topic, I believe (original version)
You can say "believe it or not" or "believe me," but how to explain the difference? And then there's the competitor phrases like "believe you me" and "I believe..."
 * "Believe it or not, I learned 'purloin' in school."
 * According to the Collins Dictionary, "believe it or not" is used to emphasize that a statement is surprising.
 * "Believe me, English is hard to learn; I still want to 'look after' words."
 * According to the Cambridge Dictionary, "believe me" is used to emphasize something you say.
 * "Believe you me, as a non-native speaker, you may find you use the wrong prepositions here or there your whole life."
 * According to the Collins Dictionary, "believe you me" is used to emphasize that what you are saying is true. But according to a dictionary I don't have as much trust in, the Free Dictionary, it means "You'd better take my word for it!" This actually seems more apt.
 * "I believe the word 'purloin' comes from Sherlock Holmes." (I almost wrote this sentence above, believe it or not. My education has gotten misty in my recollections too, believe me!)
 * According to Collins, "believe" can mean you think a statement is true, but you are not sure. I use it a lot to hedge things I say on-line. "You can argue with the validity of what I say all you like, but it's indisputably what I think is true." (As it turns out, my claimed-to-be-hazy memory on the classic use of "purloin" was indeed faulty, so I'm glad I checked Wikipedia before I wrote my comment to you above! Poe is a great author. Believe you me, checking Wikipedia before you post comments on-line can save you a ton of rebuttals!)
 * [added] "I do believe you can pull off purloining that letter, after all!"
 * I had trouble finding this, but MacMillan Dictionary says that "I do believe" is used when you realize that something that surprises you is true. IMHO, this is more apt than the Free Dictionary's definition of "a way of affirming or reaffirming one's opinion."

I hope this helps! I'm offering it in the spirit of a fun digression into the bowels of the English language, not in any sort of criticism of your struggles with it. (And generally impressive mastery!)

-- -- You talkin' to me? -- cCContributions -- 14:44, March 11, 2017 (UTC)