Prescriptiveland can be a sometime lonely place, but it has its own modest rewards

Yes, but let us not make a virtue out of stubborn isolation, Father Steve. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds ...".

Actually, I agree with you, Father Steve.

I always understood that something you "can" do is something you are physically able to do, whereas something you "may" do is something which you have license to do -- and the two are not often the same, much to the chagrin of the children who were taught this nettlesome lesson in my day.

I cannot speak for the consistency of anyone else's mother in inculcating this lesson, but certainly my own mother was as consistent as a drill sergeant -- which is why I still respect the difference between "can" and "may" to this very day. [And even to this very moment. ]

A foolish inconsistency is also the hobgoblin of little minds, Father Steve, which is why I admire the subtleties of your thought as much as the integrity of your "lonely" convictions.