On Sat, 2 Oct 1999, Jeffrey Goldberg wrote:
> I find the standard NDR
>
> A message that you sent could not be delivered to all of its recipients.
> The following address(es) failed:
>
> dangerously ambiguous. That is, there is a natural (though dispreferred)
> reading of that in which "all" takes wide scope over the "not" That is
> instead of the intended reading
>
> Not ( Ax (delivered(x))
>
> some could read that text as
>
> Ax (Not (delivered(x))
Oh rats! English is notoriously ambiguous - I guess that's why lawyers
make a lot of money. It's much easier to be rigorous in mathematical
notation. How about
A message that you sent could not be delivered to some of its recipients.
The following address(es) failed:
or
A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients.
The following address(es) failed:
or
While processing a message that you sent, delivery to the following
address(es) failed:
--
Philip Hazel University of Cambridge Computing Service,
ph10@??? Cambridge, England. Phone: +44 1223 334714.
