Infer\Imply?

[Steven D]

Neither would I- I was curious about how common it is.

It's amazing how people read and hear what they want and do not respond properly to a question or a comment.

To answer your question, I would say I don't know. But I think some people tend to confuse the two. I have no idea how common it is to do so. I would find confusing "infer" and "imply" just about as irksome as not responding properly or in direct enough fashion to a question or a comment.

[Johannes]

Good explanation

[Johannes]

It's amazing how people read and hear what they want and do not respond properly to a question or a comment.

To answer your question, I would say I don't know. But I think some people tend to confuse the two. I have no idea how common it is to do so. I would find confusing "infer" and "imply" just about as irksome as not responding properly or in direct enough fashion to a question or a comment.

"Would" you only say you don't know or ARE you saying you don't know? What's the point of answering a question by saying you don't know the answer to it?

[Steven D]

"Would" you only say you don't know or ARE you saying you don't know? What's the point of answering a question by saying you don't know the answer to it?

It informs the person who asked the question.

If I were you, I would take a look at my entire answer and consider it in relation to the question I was replying to.

[Tautologist]

Is that what you implying? LOL

[pidr1nhu]

imply means to suggest something without actually saying it directly, whereas infer means to deduce or conclude something based on what someone else has said.

Example
Pat: Can you afford to buy that car?
Sam: Are you implying (i.e. saying) that I am poor?
Pat: No. Not at all. I meant that, because you have three cars already, you may not have the time or space to take care of a fourth car. You've inferred (i.e. concluded) the wrong meaning!

What a subtle difference uhn, Casiopea, from what you said above I understand imply as you imply something from what you said, and you infer something from what somebody else said. But in the examples after Pat asking if Sam could buy a car, you used the verb imply, so he is implying something from what Pat said, Wasn't it supposed to be infer?

Regards!

[daospeak]

To imply: to communicate our thoughts and feelings.
To infer: to seem to understand someone else's thoughts and feelings.

[Torrance88]

The press may have 'inferred' that she was being hounded by the press. She may have "implied" it.

Implying means inaudably sending out signals without actually saying the words (between the lines). Inferred means picking up on those signals. They're complete opposites.

right?

[GreyMan]

We imply something by what we say. We infer something from something somebody else says.

:)

So if I understand this right, infer could be replaced with deduce?

[Tdol]

It's certainly the right direction and the problem with infer is that people use it in the wrong direction- deduce may not be an exact synonym, but it is close.