"This ruling doesn't _only_ affect patients."

[Wilson Gray]

You're right, of course. Even the title-sentence, in fact, is one of two,

"The rule doesn't only affect patients. It affects..."

and Archie Bell says,

"We don't only sing, but we dance..."

It really is the "don't *only*" / "doesn't *only* instead of "don't *just*"
/ "doesn't *just*" that, bizarrely, even IM own O, causes me to trip.

My best WAG is that it has to do with monosyllable vs. dissyllable, some
kind of disruption of the rhythm, perhaps, that just kicks my grammar all
up in its ass.

Youneverknow.


On Fri, Jul 4, 2014 at 9:05 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "This ruling doesn't _only_ affect patients."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> And there's a big difference between the two.  For me (and others I've =
> checked), in cases in which the "not only" is focused and precedes the =
> main verb, as in "We not only sing", it can't be a complete sentence but =
> needs a continuation/correction.  This is even clearer when the "not =
> only" is fronted with inversion:  "Not only do we sing" can't be a =
> complete sentence, but needs a follow-up--"Not only do we sing but we =
> sing well".   Neither of these focused constructions is possible (for =
> me) with "just":
>
> They're not {only/just} engaged.
> They not {only/*just} are engaged (=85they're living together)
> Not {only/*just} are they engaged (=85they're living together)
>
> One more difference: the "not only p (but q)" construction, especially =
> in the focused cases, can't be used when q is incompatible with p:
>
> They're not just engaged, they're married.
> #They not only are engaged, they're married.
> #Not only are they engaged, they're married.
>
> She's not just/?only an assistant professor, she's a full professor.
> #Not only is she an assistant professor, she's a full professor.
>
> YMMV.
>
> LH
>
> On Jul 4, 2014, at 8:16 AM, Margaret Lee wrote:
>
> > I remember the Archie Bell and The Drells' lyric as 'We NOT only =
> sing...'
> >=20
> > --Margaret Lee
> >=20
> >=20
> >> ________________________________
> >> From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=20
> >> Sent: Monday, June 30, 2014 9:35 PM
> >> Subject: "This ruling doesn't _only_ affect patients."
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >> When, back in the '60's, I heard fellow-Texan Archie Bell of The =
> Drells say,
> >>=20
> >> "We don't _only_ sing"
> >>=20
> >> I thought, "Wow! 'Only'? That's weird! He should have used 'just' in =
> that
> >> environment!"
> >>=20
> >> Somehow, after a half-century, "doesn't only" / "don't only" in place =
> of
> >> "... just" *still* sounds "wrong," somehow. This doesn't rise to the =
> level
> >> of a pet peeve, but it does jar. Why, I wonder.
> >>=20
> >> Youneverknow.
> >>=20
> >> --=20
> >> -Wilson
> >> -----
> >> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint =
> to
> >> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> >> -Mark Twain
> >>=20
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org/
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >>=20
> >=20
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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