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You are using "let alone" wrong. [CW: prescriptivism] (lemm.ee)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've seen "let alone" used on Lemmy a good number of times now and, at least when I noticed it, it was always used incorrectly. It's come to a point where I still feel like I'm being gaslit even after looking up examples, just because of the sheer amount of times I've seen it used outright wrong.

What I'm talking about is people switching up the first and last part. In "X, let alone Y" Y is supposed to be the more extreme case, the one that is less likely to happen, or could only happen if X also did first.

The correct usage: "That spaghetti must have been months old. I did not even open the box, let alone eat it."

How I see it used constantly: "That spaghetti must have been months old. I did not eat it, let alone open the box."

Other wrong usage: "Nobody checks out books anymore, let alone visits the library."

Why does this bug me so much? I don't know. One reason I came up with is that it's boring. The "wrong" way the excitement always ramps down with the second sentence, so why even include it?

I am prepared to be shouted down for still somehow being incorrect about this. Do your worst. At least I'll know I keep shifting between dimensions where "let alone" is always used differently or something.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (18 children)

That is a fair grammatical pet peeve. I have a pet peeve for when people use words for the exact opposite of their meaning. Not just your classic "could care less", or other things that mostly just come from people mishearing the correct phrase, but using entirely different words whose definition literally means the opposite of what they mean.

A couple examples:

I had a Facebook friend talk about how, before he went on a trip overseas for a few months, like 30 people threw him a surprise going away party. He described this event as "humbling". Yeah, that giant group of people coming out to celebrate you in particular and personally send you off on your trip must have really took you down a peg. I'm sure it really lowered your ego and made you realize you aren't important.
I CONSTANTLY hear in tv shows and movies stuff like "I'm really anxious to get going. I've been looking forward to this all week." The word is "eager". You are eager for something good that you have been anticipating. You are only anxious for some upcoming event that you are dreading or that you are trying to avoid, something causing you anxiety, thus the word. You are anxious for the upcoming test you arent prepared for and you are anxious to escape the haunted house without screaming like a little girl at a jump scare. You are not anxious to earn a payraise.

[–] agamemnonymous 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I parse "anxious to get going" as being overwhelmed in the interim: restlessness, beset by uncertainty ("did we pack the toothbrushes?", "did we confirm the hotel reservation?", "what does traffic look like?", etc.). The eagerness is for the going itself, the anxiety is for the period up to the going.

My wife, for example, is always anxious about dozens of details and considerations in the lead up to a trip, but once we're actually in the car and en route that falls away. I think a lot of people are the same, where they panic about little details up to an event, but once they've crossed the threshold from lead up to the event itself the prep panic disappears.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I parse "anxious to get going" as being overwhelmed in the interim: restlessness, beset by uncertainty ("did we pack the toothbrushes?", "did we confirm the hotel reservation?", "what does traffic look like?", etc.).

That's how that should be parsed, you're right. A bit of a weak example on my part, because it can and should be understood exactly like that. But typically, in media, that is not the intended meaning that they are trying to communicate.

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