[lit-ideas] "Wanted: Dead Or Alive": A Tautology?

 
 
In a message dated 8/31/2004 12:16:32 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx writes:
I did  see 'Roger and Me'.  And I  noticed the 'OR' in the lovely lady's  
sign.
'OR', as JL will be MORE than  happy to tell you, is not an  exclusive 'or' in
English unless specified, or  unless the 'or' is a  disjunctive conjunction of
opposites such as "life or  death" 



 
---
 
or "dead or alive", to be more precise ("always adjectivise," as Kramer  
would advise).
 
Incidentally, I notice that Google.com gives only 184 hits for "wanted:  
alive or dead", but 187,000 hits for the reverse: "wanted: dead or alive". 
 
In logical terms, the order of disjuncts should  not bother you, but  it 
does...
 
Cheers,
 
JL


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