I want to have my daughter check out a house. Why can I not have a phone number to communicate with the owner?

[Tim2166]

I wNt to have my daughter check out a property before I commit. I need the phone number of the host. Why r u blocking that number?

gretchen

[Kelly149]

@Tim2166 this isn't how ABB works, you can communicate thru the "Contact Host" button to ask questions and you should look thru the entire listing on a full-size computer, but you don't get a phone number and you don't get to stop by for a tour.

[Bryan10]

Of course you can't get the phone number of the host before you confirm a booking, otherwise you'd be able to call people willy nilly and circumvent the booking system. They're a host, not a hotel! You (not your daughter) should write a message to the host on Airbnb system to ask what you need to know. It's all about the personal contact. 

[Emilia42]

@Tim2166 

You mean acquire his number then contact him directly so you can swindle a deal off of Airbnb without having to pay their service fees? Sounds like a bad deal for Airbnb. Just because you wouldn't do that doesn't mean others wouldn't. 

[Ute42]

.

Hi @Emilia42 

Do You remember my thread „Improve Your English?“

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Day-20-Improve-Your-English/m-p/1198081#M289503

My English meanwhile has improved to a point where I can start correcting english native speakers.

You wrote:

• Just because you wouldn't do that doesn't mean others wouldn't.

Shouldn't it say:

• Just because you wouldn't do that doesn't mean others would.

[Colleen253]

lol @Ute42,  that's because your English is fresh, and sharp, like brand new high quality bed linens. Us native English speakers have let laziness and bad habits set in. @Emilia42  🤣

[Emilia42]

@Ute42 

Ha, I actually played around with that sentence a few times in my head and you're right. I was thinking something like 'Just because you wouldn't, doesn't mean others wouldn't do it either.' But that doesn't make much sense, you're english is better than mine 🙂

[Lisa723]

@Ute42 @Colleen253 @Emilia42 

What? I believe the sentence was correct as originally written. “Just because you wouldn't do that doesn't mean others wouldn't [do that].”

[J-Renato0]

@Emilia42  @Ute42 

I am not an english native speaker. However I think what @Emilia42  said make sense! It is not a matter of language... it is a matter of logic.

I agree with @Lisa723 

[Sarah977]

@Ute42 How about this one-

  " I couldn't care less "

or

"I could care less"

You hear both from native English speakers. Which one is correct?

@Tim2166  Sorry your thread got derailed. You should be able to ascertain whether a property is what you would like to book by thoroughly reading the listing description of the place, and communicating with the host. Airbnb hosts don't normally allow "pre-viewings ". It's a security risk. Would you allow some total stranger to enter your home for a look-around?

[Ute42]

.

@Sarah977, @J-Renato0 , @Lisa723 , @Colleen253 , @Emilia42 .

To be real honest, after Your comments I am insecure about what the correct version would be.

Let's try this:

• Just because you would not circumvent the booking system
  that does not mean others would not circumvent the booking system.
  
  

• Just because you would not circumvent the booking system
  that does not mean others would circumvent the booking system.

Which one is right? @Stephanie , what do You think?

I think the whole trouble started when Emilia constructed her sentence in the first place.

She could just as well have written:

• I hope You're not one of the jerks who try to circumvent the booking system.

[Lisa723]

@Ute42 what she meant was clearly "Just because you would not circumvent the booking system
that does not mean others would not circumvent the booking system."

BTW, in English the second-person "you/your/you're" is not capitalized as it is auf Deutsch. 😉

[Stephanie]

It's 100% "I couldn't care less" as if you could care less means you care a bit @Sarah977 and @Ute42 😄 (finally my English Language A-Level comes to play!) 

On a more personal preference, I think "manipulate" over "circumvent" as a more commonly understood term. To each their own. 

Also, have two negatives in a single sentence is less than impactful, therefore would recommend your second choice @Ute42 :

• Just because you wouldn't circumvent the booking system
  that doesn't mean others would.

[Michelle53]

On would/wouldn't:

One has to look at the meaning of the original sentence, which is accurate, as @Emilia42  originally wrote it. I went to an English grammar school, by the way. 

"Just because you wouldn't do that doesn't mean others wouldn't."

You wouldn't do it. 

Would others do it ?  

Yes, others would do it. 

No, others wouldn't do it. 

Now, you connect the two thoughts together. 

You wouldn't do it, but others would do it.  (people are going to behave differently)

You wouldn't do it,  and also others wouldn't do it.    (people are going to behave the same)

So then:

"You wouldn't do it doesn't mean others wouldn't do it. "    You are saying you wouldn't do it,  BUT what you decide to do  does not change someone else's decision, and they may do it, or not.     

It's not about how many negatives - it's about the original meaning of the sentence.  She is saying just because she would not do something does not impact the decision of another person, who may do it, or not.  Put another way, she wouldn't do it but another person might behave differently. 

"Couldn't care less" is correct. 

[Sarah977]

@Stephanie  Yes,I agree- "I couldn't care less" is correct, but I hear people say the other all the time.

While we are on the subject of grammar, I have lately been noticing a shocking amount of written text, even from supposedly professional journalists (and I see it all the time in posts on this forum and others) where the use of the past participle in a compound verb is replaced with the past tense. "I have wrote" instead of "I have written", "I had ran", etc. People in general seem to be becoming more illiterate as their reading centers more on text messages and short articles online instead of reading well-written novels and other literature.