MrPedantic  +  594513 Tue, 25 Nov 08 06:16 PM Anonymous “Could you post it? ” "I have to see you again." – RLS. MrP MrPedantic Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004 Veteran Member 13,616 ...opella forensis / adducit febris...

	MrPedantic  +  598087 Fri, 28 Nov 08 10:36 PM Certainly; when I find it again. But in any case, even if it was originally an "American import", which I very much doubt, why should that affect the meaning of the phrase now, in everyday use, in BrE? MrP     MrPedantic

	MrPedantic  +  598626 Sat, 29 Nov 08 11:25 AM Anonymous “You mean you remembered that single occurence of "have to" without knowing which letter it came from? ” I found; I transcribed; I departed. Anonymous “ Are obligative "must" and "have to" now on an equal footing in standard British English? Is "must" as common as "have to" when expressing subjective modality?” The question embodies a number of doubtful assumptions: that "subjective modality" is a phrase with any meaning; that the relationship between "must" and "have to" is of the kind that lends itself to an "equal footing", or a comparison in terms of common-ness; that their relationship "now" is somehow necessarily different from e.g. 20 years ago. MrP   MrPedantic British English

	Mike in Japan  +  598740 Sat, 29 Nov 08 02:05 PM I must/have to say; I'm impressed. I don't understand half the stuff you guys are debating, but the half I do is very impressive!    Mike in Japan Joined on Tue, Aug 19 2003 Senior Member 4,588 I do like to be beside the seaside