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Neoprophet Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

Heated argument over meaning of following statement:

I got in a heated argument with a friend over the following:

he typed: "To spare my channel the dignity of hosting a hetero sexual only channel"

With that wording, I think the sentence states that he wants to spare his channel of heterosexuality.

He thinks it means the opposite.

I would really appreciate your thoughts.. thank you
  

Top answer

You asked about the following: "To spare my channel the dignity of hosting a hetero sexual only channel" First, the above isn't a complete sentence. Second, we normally wish to spare ourselves (do without) indignities rather than dignities. I therefore suggest that you change it to: I wish to spare my channel the indignity of hosting a heterosexual-only channel.

— Taiwandave

  • You asked about the following: "To spare my channel the dignity of hosting a hetero sexual only channel" First, the above isn't a complete sentence.
  • Second, we normally wish to spare ourselves (do without) indignities rather than dignities.
  • I therefore suggest that you change it to: I wish to spare my channel the indignity of hosting a heterosexual-only channel.
  • The above means is that he would prefer not to host a heterosexual-only channel.
  • For some reason, it would offend his dignity to do so.
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4 Answers
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You asked about the following:

"To spare my channel the dignity of hosting a hetero sexual only channel"

First, the above isn't a complete sentence. Second, we normally wish to spare ourselves (do without) indignities rather than dignities. I therefore suggest that you change it to:

I wish to spare my channel the indignity of hosting a heterosexual-only channel.
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I would really appreciate it if someone can explain exactly why the phrase states what it does (in a technical sense). I want to be able to soundly prove my point hehe...
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I agree that "spare" doesn't seem to go very well with "dignity" in that sentence. But, it is an incomplete sentence, as it was pointed out, so it makes making any inferences difficult.
"I wish to spare..." and "I don't wish to spare..." mean obviously different things.
Anyway, why not look up the word in a dictionary? That should be enough "evidence", and it should satisfy
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Let's look at the following sentence:

He wishes to spare his channel the indignity of hosting a heterosexual-only channel.

Something that he "spares" his channel is something that he avoids giving to his channel. An "indignity" is something that is humiliating or insulting. What is therefore being said is that he wants to avoid the humilation or insult that would result if hi
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