AIBU to despair about the amount of posters who already think the rules don’t apply to them?

[Dennisreynoldsduster]

How can anyone look At what is happening around the world and still think it’s okay to go to their holiday rental/get their nails done etc?
I don’t know whether some posters are deliberately obtuse or genuinely don’t understand (not sure how much clearer Boris could have made it tbh) but I’m actually more scared now than I have been previously due to some of the posts on here tonight

We’ve got no hope have we?

I thought it was very clear. I've seen lots of FB and MN questions since, that I have been staggered by people's stupidity.

@LivingDeadGirlUK please could you tell me where you read this, everything I’m finding is vague. We have a site it would be dangerous to leave as it is, external and only needs a team of two to wrap it up.

unfortunately, CuriousaboutSamphire, should DOES not only have one meaning. In fact the very place that you copied and pasted from has multiple examples of varying usage:

verb
modal verb: should
1.
used to indicate obligation, duty, or correctness, typically when criticizing someone's actions.
"he should have been careful"
indicating a desirable or expected state.
"by now pupils should be able to read with a large degree of independence"
used to give or ask advice or suggestions.
"you should go back to bed"
used to give advice.
"I should hold out if I were you"
2.
used to indicate what is probable.
"£348 m should be enough to buy him out"
3.
FORMAL
(expressing the conditional mood) referring to a possible event or situation.
"if you should change your mind, I'll be at the hotel"
(in the first person) indicating the consequence of an imagined event.
"if I were to obey my first impulse, I should spend my days writing letters"
4.
used in a clause with ‘that’ after a main clause describing feelings.
"it is astonishing that we should find violence here"
5.
used in a clause with ‘that’ expressing purpose.
"in order that training should be effective it must be planned systematically"
6.
(in the first person) expressing a polite request or acceptance.
"I should like some more, if I may"
7.
(in the first person) expressing a conjecture or hope.
"he'll have a sore head, I should imagine"
8.
used to emphasize to a listener how striking an event is or was.
"you should have seen Marge's face"
emphasizing how surprising an event was.
"I was in this shop when who should I see across the street but Tobias"

Points 2,3,6 and 7 highlight why is was NOT the correct word to use.

The government seeded the doubts and

lackadaisical response by all its dithering. Just two weeks ago people were patting themselves on the back for "standing up to a bit of flu" or whatever. Off they went to the 50,000 capacity football stadiums, running their marathons, watching their favourite bands in packed arenas, going clubbing and all the rest of it. A week ago kids were still in packed classrooms.

But now suddenly the government says its a Massive Emergency (which it is of course and has been since the beginning of February) and the government has painted those millions of people as idiots. (which they were, but the government was telling them "It's fine - you just keep the economy ticking along and the old folk safe at home"). The joker in chief and his eugenics obsessed sidekick SideShow Dom led the country a merry dance, and a lot of us aren't too bright at the best of times.

As I said @CaptainMax, using secondary meanings is clutching at stews, quibbling.

YeahWhatever put it better than I did

Should - applies to rational adults who having common sense and judgement can see the need for this action and will comply for the benefit of everyone

Must - applies to children who lack the judgement and experience to make the right decision and selfish adults who don't really care about how their actions affect others

Stews? That would bem uch more useful than straws!!!

@Dennisreynoldsduster

its at 6:38 on the bbc's live reporting page.

And even a subcategory of point 1- “should” means advice or a suggestion.

@ roseapothecary I think you can carry on helping your relatives as it says you can leave your home to ‘provide care or to help a vulnerable person’. That falls squarely into that in my view.

I think Boris was perfectly clear tbh. Sadly there are a lot of people who can't follow very clear rules and cannot exercise common sense; so tougher measures will probably have to be made.

The gatherings advice should () say "2 people or more" not "more than 2 people". We've already been told no non-essential contact with people we don't live with.
It is trying to tell people what a gathering is - 2 people or more - to cover the people who want to argue about what a "gathering" and say that them and their 3 mates aren't a gathering.
But as worded it isn't clear.

There were definitely inconsistencies....

You can go out to exercise once a day alone (or with household members)

Gatherings of more than two people will be dispersed (excluding household members)

Those statements directly conflict. The second suggests a run/walk with one other non-household member is ok.

I'm not having trouble deciding what to do - I'm social distancing. The only person I'll be with is my son. I'm just pointing out that the instructions aren't clear.

roseapothecary

I would say that's fine. It's essential that you can help them imo.

@Lifeisgenerallyfun brilliantly put.

How come the whole nation seem to have suddenly lost the ability to apply their own initiative and comment sense to situations?

Everyone appears to now need a big government hand hold, and to be explicitly told what they can and can't do in every situation possible.

Essential isn't up for interpretation. Essential is what you need to survive - food, water, medicine and necessary work so that society doesn't grind to a complete halt. A walk around the block or down the street is fine to tick the exercise box.

People are confusing needs and wants.

*common

He should have been more direct, using words like must / compulsory / etc.

Even my husband pointed out BOJO was not clear enough in his speech, and coming from him that is something!

He kept saying "should" when "must" would have been far more appropriate.

Thank you firsttimelottie and Thatnovembernight for helping to put my mind at ease

Because Boris has no gravitas

Hardly surprising when he's built his career on being a bumbling idiot who makes people laugh - how the hell he got into office I don't know!

The only ones getting it are the large Hassidic Jewish community who had a loudhailer on a car saying stay home last night & their kids aren't playing out now

There is a large Hasidic community not far from us, too - I wondered how they would feel about it as they are very family oriented - and of course, in some ways this has shades of the Ghetto about it, though it applies to all and not just a specific group.

And I can tell you, people - if they can entertain their (often very large) families indoors, then you can keep you special snowflake from running screaming round the aisles in Tesco's.

(Just out of interest - are you in the NE, CSIBlonde?)

I heard they have decided to keep post offices open. This is going to confuse a lot of people because obviously going to the post office doesn't fall into any of the 4 categories yet if it was forbidden why are they remaining open.

Well @CuriousaboutSamphire we shall have to agree to disagree.
It really isn't quibbling, it has about not allowing for misinterpretation .. the common usage of the word "should" intrinsically raises the notion of option. "should I stay or should I go", "should I go to the park with my friends".
"you should not go to work" can and will be interpreted "it's best not to go to work"
The message had to be much stronger.
I am not argumentative, so will leave it there.

"I had a friend who thought it was okay to go for a walk once a day with a family member, she lives alone. No it was not clear enough. And yes should was not the word to use."

In theory, she can. Its gatherings of no more than two. So if she meets someone else, and walks 2 metres apart, she is following the rules.

Until people are shown sufferers writhing to get air and going blue and drawing their last breath because there are no ventilators they will still see people wanting to go to the garden centre or go to the cinema.

BoJo could not have made it clearer but people are thick as mince. Stop thinking about what you are missing and think about what you can do at home. Show some imagination. Your homes can't be that frigging rank and if they are, now is an ideal chance to do something about it!

At least not in the re-run of his speech I just watched.. he said, repeatedly "of the same family"

But I don't think that's clear. I think he should have said "household", ie people living under the same roof.

Some people think their mum's auntie's husband is a member of their family, or their second cousin once removed.

Basically, you shouldn't be meeting with anyone who lives in a different house from you.

He also hasnt said that only key workers can go to work. He said you can go to work if it's absolutely necessary and you cant work from home. So lots of employers are still going to expect people in.