[lit-ideas] "Wanted: Dead Or Alive": A Tautology?
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 12:56:56 EDT
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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