look at / watch pornography.

[Ashraful Haque]

I was having a conversation about porn with two other guys. I said "Till what age do men look at porn?"

1) Was my sentence correct?
2) What's the difference between 'look at porn' and 'watch porn' in this sentence?

 

[emsr2d2]

1. Not really, no. Not only should it be "watch", but it's an odd question anyway. Why do you think there's an upper age limit on men watching such content? And aren't you interested in some similar sort of age limit for women watching it?
2. On the assumption you're talking about videos (rather than photos), "watch" is the word you need.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

1. Not really, no. Not only should it be "watch", but it's an odd question anyway. Why do you think there's an upper age limit on men watching such content? And aren't you interested in some similar sort of age limit for women watching it?
2. On the assumption you're talking about videos (rather than photos), "watch" is the word you need.

Actually one of the guys wasn't straight and wasn't interested in porn. And we were talking about how it doesn't feel like it used to back when we were younger. So I thought may be after a certain age all men lose interest in them.

And is the 'till' necessary here? How does "What age do men watch porn" sound?
Also "What age do men stop watching porn?"

I think the second sentence is correct and the first one isn't.

 

[Tarheel]

Try:

At what age do men stop watching porn?

 

[Rover_KE]

Answer: How long is a piece of string?

 

[emsr2d2]

Actually one of the guys [STRIKE]wasn't[/STRIKE] isn't straight [STRIKE]and[/STRIKE] so [STRIKE]wasn't[/STRIKE] isn't interested in straight porn.

Unless you clarified it with him, you can't possibly say that he's not interested in porn just because he's gay. He might be very interested in gay porn. You would need to be specific - he's gay so he's not interested in straight porn. (I don't know if that's true of all non-straight people - gay/lesbian/bi etc.)

 

[Tdol]

2) What's the difference between 'look at porn' and 'watch porn' in this sentence?

Watch is more engaged and focused, so a better choice of verb for porn.

 

[jutfrank]

I say watch is only for videos while look at is generally for everything.

 

[Tdol]

I bow to your specialist knowledge. :-D

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Unless you clarified it with him, you can't possibly say that he's not interested in porn just because he's gay. He might be very interested in gay porn. You would need to be specific - he's gay so he's not interested in straight porn. (I don't know if that's true of all non-straight people - gay/lesbian/bi etc.)

Actually I didn't assume that. He told me he wasn't interested. Anyway I got my answer. It should be 'watch.'

What confuses me is this- "Actually one of the guys wasn't isn't straight and so wasn't isn't interested in straight porn."

If I'm not mistaken I was told in this very site that it's possible to use the past tense when you're talking about something that happened in the past even if it's true still now. Since I was imagining the situation from present, shouldn't it be 'he wasn't straight' and 'he wasn't interested'?

 

[emsr2d2]

Using the past tense in reported speech would have worked if the context had covered a single event or situation. For example:

John: Do you want to come and see a Beatles tribute band with me tonight?
James: No, thanks. I'm not interested.
Reported speech (John): I asked James if he wanted to see a Beatles tribute band with me but he said he wasn't interested.
Reported speech (James): John asked me if I wanted to go and see a Beatles tribute band but I told him I wasn't interested.

Here, there's just one event (the band playing) and, at the time of the conversation, James wasn't interested. There's no connection to the present.

In your context, you're talking about your friend's sexuality and his taste in pornography. Those things (almost certainly) haven't changed. By saying he "is" gay and he "isn't" interested in porn, you're both making it clear that those two things are true now and that they were true when you had that conversation.

 

[jutfrank]

Anyway I got my answer. It should be 'watch.'

I disagree. I think look at is better, as it's not exclusive to videos. You're talking about pornography in general, not just films.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Using the past tense in reported speech would have worked if the context had covered a single event or situation. For example:

John: Do you want to come and see a Beatles tribute band with me tonight?
James: No, thanks. I'm not interested.
Reported speech (John): I asked James if he wanted to see a Beatles tribute band with me but he said he wasn't interested.
Reported speech (James): John asked me if I wanted to go and see a Beatles tribute band but I told him I wasn't interested.

Here, there's just one event (the band playing) and, at the time of the conversation, James wasn't interested. There's no connection to the present.

In your context, you're talking about your friend's sexuality and his taste in pornography. Those things (almost certainly) haven't changed. By saying he "is" gay and he "isn't" interested in porn, you're both making it clear that those two things are true now and that they were true when you had that conversation.

I think I get it. If something is still true, I have to use present tense even if it happened a long time ago.
- The only reason we aren't dead is because he drove really well.- He drove really well at the time. Doesn't say anything about weather he's still a good driver or not.

- The only reason we aren't dead is because he drives really well.- He's a good driver in general.

 

[Tarheel]

In your example you are talking about a specific incident. Perhaps:

The reason we survived was because of his driving. The car wound up with barely a scratch on it. The same for the passengers!