"Nice and" expression question.

[Carol]

zanooda wrote:
> Well, Carol, *I* love your answers, because they are detailed and
supplied with examples :-). 

Carol responds:
Thanks! I enjoy writing them.

zanooda:
> You are right, it is natural for a native speaker to understand
without thinking and analyzing, but for a translator an idiom is not a
friend :-). Some of them are especially tricky - those which in some
contexts can masquerade as something normal and innocent, so if a
translator doesn't know the expression, he tends to translate it "as
it is". 

Carol:
Right. But that's what makes them so much fun to discuss. It's eye
opening for the native speakers of a language to see the language as
"ithers" see it. (Bobby Burns on the brain, sorry.) Also, of course,
translations can be hilarious for the same reason, a misunderstanding
of idioms by the translator.

zanooda:
> <snip> Anyway, I want to thank you and everyone else for your good
advice. Sometimes I need English-speakers' support so that I have more
authority when I try to correct someone's translation mistake :-).
It's a pity I can't do the same with our official translation - if I
was (were?) their editor, Neville would never have become the Potions
Master, LOL!

Carol responds:

I agree. There's no excuse for making Neville Potions master rather
than Herbology professor, which can't be explained through
misinterpreted idioms. Maybe it was wishful thinking on the part of
the translator (poetic justice, in his or her view?). 

BTW, "if I were" is the subjunctive mood and is used when the thing
you're describing is impossible or hypothetical or contrary to fact
(you're not their editor, so "if I were" is correct). "If I was" is
used when the thing is possible but you're not sure whether it's true
or not ("if I was a bit too grumpy yesterday, I apologize."

Some people (including me) use "if I were" habitually (except in rare
cases like that last one), even though it's technically formal
English. However, except for "if I were you," the subjunctive mood is
disappearing from English, and many people say "if I was" in
conversation or informal writing. In another fifty years, "if I were"
will probably obsolete, along (I hope) with the annoying and outdated
"whether it be."

Carol, now anticipating a slew of posts defending "whether it be"