[bluejak]

 phil_20686, on 2011-November-01, 20:05, said:

(2) Anyone who thinks XX is to play on this sequence is having a laugh.

Do you play much general club bridge? I am sure that in the clubs I play a fair sized proportion would assume any unalerted redouble was to play whether the situation is logical or not.

[Vampyr]

 bluejak, on 2011-November-01, 17:41, said:

That is not true. The specific rules do not cover every situation, so when they do not, the general rules apply. You have just been given several examples of this.

 phil_20686, on 2011-November-01, 20:05, said:

(1) The concept of a general rule is itself an object of confusion. If I say "I generally shop at TESCOs", then that means that I would shop at tescos most of the time except in a few specific circumstances. If I say that "Theorem X is the general case of Theorem Y", then I mean that theorem X includes all of the special cases enumerated by theorem Y. Thus it sounds a lot like Lamford is a mathematician by training.

So, RL a "general" rule will usually mean a default position, whereas in mathematics and science a "general" rule encompasses all specific examples. Isn't English a fun language...