cherrybim-
That’s a unique pshat on “asmachta” 🙂
(although if your offer included “and buy him a coke”, you’d probably be correct)
And from my read, a number of CRers seem to hold up quite well when it comes to halachic topics, including PM.
Agreed. I often am impressed at the halocha seforim, piskei halocha, and meforshim posters seem to have at their fingertips.
I don’t know for sure, but I’d imagine that “asmachta” that is not koneh requires two things; that the person assumes the occurrence won’t happen and that he is unhappy when it does.
To make up a case – suppose someone’s living-room a/c dies an hour before a Shabbos which is forcast to be 95 degrees and humid, and he offers his repairman neighbor a $50 reward (on top of his standard fee) if he can get it working before Shabbos, expecting that it is impossible to fix it that quickly. If the a/c unit is fixed, although he was somech on it not being done, he is quite happy with the results and it is well worth the extra $50. Is he chayav to pay the extra $50?