A:
Yeah, well I'm fine with people being vegans, obviously, more power to them, but I just hate that argument, you know, that's like "If people were supposed to drink milk as adults, we would all possess that enzyme for breaking down cows' milk."
B:
I think that's lactase, but yeah, I hate that argument, too. Has no one ever explained the whole "There's a difference between 'Is' and 'Ought' to these people?"
C:
What do you mean, with "ought?"
A:
"Ought", O-U-G-H-T. It's sort of an old-fashioned word now, I guess.
B:
Yeah, it's one of those words that only really appears in phrases these days, but it basically means "should".
C:
Ah, I see. So back in the older days, one father might tell his child "You ought milk the cows."
A:
Yeah, basically, but I think you would actually say "You ought TO milk the cows."
B:
Right, so it's the same idea as "should", but it's, uh, I guess it's a verb?
A:
Yeah, you could change that sentence to "Bill loved to milk the cows", so it's the same part of speech as "loved", which is a verb right?
B:
Yeah, it's the past, uh, past participle of the verb "to love" so you can just change it to "Bill love to ", wait, why doesn't that work?
A:
... I don't know if "loved" is a verb. Wait, no, no, you just conjugated it wrong, you would change it to "Bill loves to milk the cows", which is right.
B:
Right, right. Ok, so "ought" is a verb form of the sort of "You should do something" sentiment, and "should", I guess, is a verb modifier? Do they have those?
C:
Yes, the adverbs.
A:
Right, thanks. Yeah, so "should" is just an adverb, so we should be able to swap in another one, and like "You happily milk the cows", so happily is another adverb
B:
And yeah, that's a weird sentence, but it's grammatical. So, to answer your question, "ought" is basically a verb form of the adverb "should".
C:
So, then, when you are saying there is a difference between "Is" and "Ought"?
B:
Oh, right. Well, it's just pointing out that there can be a difference between the way things are and the way things OUGHT to be. So, you know, the fact that many humans DON'T have lactase doesn't really say anything about the ethics of whether we SHOULD drink cows' milk or not.
C:
That is what I thought your meaning is. It is very funny that the argument is easier to understand than the words that are composing the argument!
A:
Yeah, it really is.