playBunny:Thanks good Bunny.  I now have a very good image of what I say transferes to others.  Yes.  i was talking about the nagative questions, not eating dinner!  So based on what you say:

If I ask " Isn't he out of town?" or "Is he not out of town?" the hearer gets the same impression, but if I ask "Is he not out of town?" it gives the hearer the impression that I expected the person I am asking my question about, he, to be out of town and now I'm perhaps surprised at hearing that he's not.


R's!  Well, I know that British people drop R's everywhere in a word except where they're followed by a vowel.  So "car" is actually /ka:/ while "car accident" is /ka:r aeksident/.  So I was wondering if in the States there are people who speak like that.