"At least" (broadcast journalism)

[Laurence Horn]

At 8:09 PM -0400 5/3/10, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>Sawyer was talking about the reduction in the size of the oil slick. If
>it continues, the problem disappears. Unlikely, but possible. "At least"
>seems correct.
>
>DanG

I was watching and I also took her, in the context and with her
intonation, to mean "at least" (i.e. good news, if qualified) rather
than "at most" (bad news).  It would have been clearer perhaps if she
had said "At least it seems a momentary reprieve."

LH

>
>On 5/3/2010 7:35 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: "At least" (broadcast journalism)
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Maybe a momentary reprieve is better than no reprieve at all.
>>
>>But context and intonation would have made the meaning clear.
>>
>>JL
>>
>>On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 7:28 PM, Joel S. Berson<Berson at att.net>  wrote:
>>
>>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>>Sender:       American Dialect Society<ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>Poster:       "Joel S. Berson"<Berson at ATT.NET>
>>>Subject:      "At least" (broadcast journalism)
>>>
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>Diane Sawyer reported on the Gulf oil slick on this evening's ABC
>>>news.  She said that its size had decreased somewhat since yesterday,
>>>probably meaning only that some oil had sunk to the seabed.  "It
>>>seems a momentary reprieve at least."
>>>
>>>Surely she meant "at most."
>>>
>>>Joel
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org