More on substituting

[Garson O'Toole]

Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Check it out:
>
> "There's no substitute for beer."  That means beer is good: accept no
> substitutes.
>
> "Champagne is no substitute for beer." That mean beer is good: better than
> champagne.
>
> If you're with me so far (and I'll bet somebody isn't), the following
> sentence is insane:
>
> "Eloquence is no substitute for dubious reasoning."

Jon: Do you think the following examples may be similar to the one
that you are critiquing?

Bottomline: Volume 2, Part 2
National Council of Savings Institutions (U.S.) - 1985 - Snippet view
High yields are no substitute for poor credit or overpriced
properties; pity those who have had to learn this the hard way.

The motor ship: Volume 58
1977 - Snippet view
Q COLLISION-AVOIDANCE radar systems are no substitute for poor
officers or a guarantee of safe passage. These are among the major
(and perhaps obvious, a cynic might say) findings of a study carried
out by Liverpool Polytechnic College ...

Introduction to floriculture
Roy A. Larson - 1992 - 636 pages - Snippet view
Growth retardants should be considered as one of the many tools
available to the grower. They are no substitute for poor cultural
practices.

Here is my interpretation of this construct when it is used in the manner above.

X is no substitute for Y.
X cannot or should not be used to mask or minimize the problems
associated with Y. X cannot be used to  ameliorate Y.

(Of course, I am not passing judgment on whether this is proper or
improper English. This is a descriptivist analysis by a layperson.)
[Examples are unverified snippets from Google Books.]


> To show what I mean by "insane," here is the complete context:
>
> "[Winston Churchill said the following about the H-bomb and the policy of
> "mutually assured destruction":] 'By a process of sublime irony, [we] have
> reached a state where safety will be the sturdy child of terror, and
> survival the twin brother of annihilation.'
>
> "Philosophers are a little touchy about language and logic:  eloquence is no
> substitute for dubious reasoning. In plain English, Churchill and the others
> are saying: _To reduce the risk of nuclear war, the risk must be
> increased_."
>
> The passage was written by Ron Hirschbein, who has "created programs in war
> and peace studies at the University of California, Chico."  A few lines
> later, Prof. Hirschbein writes with a straight face, "[P]hilosophers are
> troubled by contradictions and unintelligible prose, especially when no
> effort is made to resolve the contradictions and to render clear and
> distinct expression."
>
> Churchill's comment, made in 1955, is provocative. But Hirschbein seems to
> believe that his use own of "no substitute for" is perfectly lucid. His
> research over the years "focused on postmodern approaches to nuclear
> crises." (Think about *that* one!)
>
> The passage appears in the popular paperback for undergraduate thinkers,
> _Alice in Wonderland and Philosophy_, ed. by R. B. Davis (Wiley, 2010).
>
> JL
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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