too = 'either'

[Laurence Horn]

On Jun 10, 2012, at 7:52 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> You guys don't get it, do you?
>
> In your exx., "too" still = 'either.'
>
> JL

I still don't see why it's any different from Lennon's, which I also immediately thought of:

[no [thing to kill or die for]] and [no religion] too
[no Democrats] and [no Republicans] too

Yes, in both cases "either" is generally the suppletive negative polarity form that steps in for "too" within the scope of a negative, but if it doesn't, the meaning is still the meaning.  Lennon's excuse was the meter ("and no religion either" doesn't fit nearly as well metrically) and the rhyme--

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too

--and Ventura's was the allusion to Lennon.



LH

>
> On Sun, Jun 10, 2012 at 7:44 PM, Jim Parish <jparish at siue.edu> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Jim Parish <jparish at SIUE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: too = 'either'
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>> At 6/10/2012 04:25 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>>> CNN promotes Gov. "Jesse Ventura's" scheme to abolish political parties:
>>>>
>>>> "Imagine! No Republicans! No Democrats too!"
>>> Why can't I understand this as too = 'also'?  "No Democrats also"?
>>>
>>
>> I agree; it looks to me like an obvious riff on the song "Imagine":
>> "Nothing to kill or die for / And
>> no religion, too."
>>
>> Jim Parish
>>
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