(neither) nor

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:57 PM -0400 5/8/07, Marc Sacks wrote:
>  > I've been writing little bits and pieces about the "nor" recently.
>>  Interesting
>>  to note that in addition to deletion of an initial negative there are
>>  times when
>>  this coordination jumps categories. Sometimes it's a very awkward union as
>>  in:
>>
>>  "I have neither friends nor have enemies."
>>
>
>
>There's another oddity I first encountered when learning Latin in college.
>The Latin "neque," roughly translatable as "neither" or "nor," sometimes
>introduces a clause following a positive statement, giving it the sense of
>"but not [however]." An English equivalent (sorry I can't think of a
>better one right now) would be "I love cheese, nor can I stand broccoli."
>I've actually seen something like that in English occasionally, and I find
>it very jarring. Is there any sanction for it?
>
What does occur much more freely is a "nor" following a formally
non-negative proposition that makes a negative claim (or one which
argues for the same conclusion as that in the subsequent conjunct).
Here's an off-the-cuff example:

I'm worried about the effects of our invasion of Iraq in the Arab
world, nor am I particularly sanguine about the consequences of our
actions on our standing in the international community.

Or, to adapt your example:

[I'm going to pass up that quiche.]  I have some misgivings about
cheese, nor am I crazy about broccoli.

These aren't of course "but not" cases of the kind you mention.

LH

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