How I wish

Question

How I wish we got together and went to a sauna.Does it make sense? and does it mean I'm anxious to go to sauna with him but can't go because of some reasons?

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

No and no.

How I wish we could get together and go to a sauna! (future possibility)

How I wish we had gotten together and gone to a sauna! (past impossibility)

Also, please notice that 'anxious' is used when thinking of unpleasant futures; I think you mean 'eager'.

Moon7296 · Answer

All I knew about 'anxious' was the definition you gave me: 'when thinking of unpleasant futures'.

But when I found another definition listed in many dictionaries I started to use it.

1. : ardently or earnestly wishing <anxious to learn more> (from Merriam-Webster)

2. If you are anxious to do something or anxious that something should happen, you very much want to do it or very much want it to happen. (Oxford)

Q) Although there is the definition like that, you don't use 'anxious' like that?

Mister Micawber · Answer

It is (or was) one of the classic differences in nuance between anxious and eager. Obviously the difference has slipped into the muddy waters of the hoi polloi. Too bad. No, I don't use it like that, but it seems that you may now. Who am I to stand in the road before the oncoming traffic of change?

Moon7296 · Answer

Yeah.. I and other English learners wouldn't have known if they were not told the use of that definition is 'Too bad'.

By the way, what does it mean by 'Who am I to stand in the road before the oncoming traffic of change?'

Mister Micawber · Answer

It means that I am a descriptivist more than a prescriptivist.

How I wish

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