> They were told that a specific change "must not" go into a release, it was OK for it to wait for the next patch release.
To be fair, the two clauses of this sentence are somewhat confusing: If it is "OK to wait" it somehow implies that "you don't have to", while "must not" is indeed imperative.
Seems like the associativity is different: in English "must not foo" groups as "must (not foo)" while German's is like "(must not) foo" (taking 'not' as postfix there)?
Their English could have been excellent. People can communicate effectively and yet have small gaps in their knowledge that remain unnoticed for years.
Yes, for example, there appears to be a gap in the knowledge of many native English speakers, on this issue. "You must not" is not the negative of "You must" in English. It's an oddball exception, one that native speakers don't notice because they've been hearing "You must not" since about age two. So people accusing my former colleagues of not understanding the grammar of negatives really don't get it: they understood perfectly, they just weren't aware of a very important exception.
To be fair, the two clauses of this sentence are somewhat confusing: If it is "OK to wait" it somehow implies that "you don't have to", while "must not" is indeed imperative.