(b)logophile » pedantry http://www.logophile.org/blog blog of a logophile (not "logos", but "λόγος") Sun, 11 Jul 2010 15:04:12 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=199 The answer is obvious http://www.logophile.org/blog/2008/04/14/the-answer-is-obvious/ http://www.logophile.org/blog/2008/04/14/the-answer-is-obvious/#comments Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:25:11 +0000 tikitu http://www.logophile.org/blog/?p=369 Geoff Pullum asks if “and/or” means “and AND or” or “and OR or”, and decides for the latter.

Well, duh. Clearly it means “and AND/OR or”.

(He does have a point though: if you think like a logician, it’s clearly an unnecessary connective. “And AND or” is logically equivalent to “and”, while “and OR or” is logically equivalent to “or”. You need to recognise that real people1 use “or” in its exclusive sense —rice or noodles with that curry?— as well as its inclusive sense —milk or sugar in your tea?— and “and/or” can be used to emphasise the inclusive reading.)

Notes:

  1. I’m allowed to make logician jokes, I’m a certified Master of Logic. No foolin’.
]]> http://www.logophile.org/blog/2008/04/14/the-answer-is-obvious/feed/ 4 Semanticists at lunch http://www.logophile.org/blog/2006/07/19/semanticists-at-lunch/ http://www.logophile.org/blog/2006/07/19/semanticists-at-lunch/#comments Wed, 19 Jul 2006 11:57:02 +0000 tikitu http://www.logophile.org/blog/?p=185 Studying semantics doesn’t give you much to laugh at, most of the time. In fact, rather the reverse: being too aware of what words mean, you start to miss what people mean when they say them. Anyone confronted with “Oh, it’s funny because…” has probably just told a joke to a semanticist. But there are moments that make up for it all.

For lunch at the mensa today I had a sandwich, with as filler “gek-worst“. The taste was disappointing bland. Also on offer were the following full meals (and I swear, the translation is faithful):

  • Vegetarian wok dish — €7,00
  • Meat wok dish
    • Student — €5,00
    • Non-student — €7,00

Well, it made me laugh.

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