between inclusive

[Laurence Horn]

On Jun 4, 2013, at 1:37 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:

> At 6/4/2013 01:04 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>> Yes, although we might not agree on the judgments, I think it's
>> clear that the definition of "between" needs to be rewritten to
>> allow the possibility of including the endpoints. I would say that
>> the dollars and patients examples are both inclusive.
>
> I would say the  "patients between the age of 40 and 50" example
> excludes those of age 50; that is, it is intended to be a 10-year,
> not 11- or 9-year range.  Others may disagree with my interpretation,
> which is perhaps why so many patients die.

Sounds like a threat!  ;-)

LH

>  In any case, my "between"
> for this example is different from the previous definitions -- it
> includes one endpoint but not the other.
>
> Joel
>
>
>> Benjamin Barrett
>> Seattle, WA
>>
>> On Jun 4, 2013, at 6:58 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>
>> > If you asked me to pick a number between 1 and 10, I would find that
>> > unclear -- are 1 and 10 possible picks?
>> >
>> > If you asked me to pick a number from 1 to 10, I would know exactly what
>> > you mean.
>> >
>> > In other contexts, however, I would have to make a judgment based on
>> > specificity. Your "somewhere between 40 and 50 dollars" is not the same as
>> > "patients between the age of 40 and 50".
>> >
>> > DanG
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 5:13 AM, Benjamin Barrett
>> <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>wrote:
>> >
>> >> The OED says about "between": Of the relation of a number, quantity,
>> >> degree, or quality to two others above and below it, or differing from it
>> >> in opposite ways; Intermediate to.
>> >>
>> >> One of the cites is:
>> >>
>> >> Between five and six miles from the city.
>> >>
>> >> If I emphasize the words "between," "five" and "six" just right, I think I
>> >> can make it not include five or six, but generally speaking, I don't think
>> >> that's the case.
>> >>
>> >> Wiktionary has the same issue:
>> >>
>> >> In the position or interval that separates (two things), or intermediate
>> >> in quantity or degree.
>> >>
>> >> This works fine for the following sample sentence:
>> >> 1. John stood between Amy and Mary.
>> >>
>> >> but less well for 2 and very poorly for 3:
>> >> 2. Let's meet between two and three.
>> >> 3. I want to buy one that costs somewhere between forty and fifty dollars.
>> >>
>> >> My concern is not merely petty pedantry: I just got called on this very
>> >> issue by my Japanese client who thought my use of "between" was
>> >> inappropriate as a translation of Japanese copy which is inclusive. I
>> >> explained that while the OED agrees with her, I had to nevertheless
>> >> disagree.
>> >>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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