English usage and grammar

360 readers

2 users here now

A community to discuss and ask questions about English usage and grammar.

If your post refers to a specific English variant, please indicate it within square brackets (for instance [Canadian]).

Online resources:

Cambridge English Dictionary
Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus
Gilman's Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. This is a great and witty reference about usage, its history, and its controveries

Sibling communities:

[email protected]

Rules of conduct:

The usual ones on Lemmy and Mastodon.. In short: be kind or at least respectful, no offensive language, no harassment, no spam.

(Icon: entry "English" in the Oxford English Dictionary, 1933. Banner: page from Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale".)

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

English needs a word for the inclusive or, and I'm down for committing robbery against one of our top victims. (infosec.pub)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

You know when something can be either "or" or "and?" You may also say it is "and" and or "or"; "or" and/or "and," if you will. That's the inclusive or!

The Latin "vel" is a word for the inclusive or. I also just learned that the logic symbol, ∨, is called "vel" and is used for something called "disjunction" as opposed to "exclusive disjunction (⊻)," which is simply the exclusive or, which is the regular or in English.

Apparently the legal term "vel non" uses this word to mean "or not," which means there's at least a chance of it making it out of the courtroom and into the common lingo like quid pro quo, de jure, and de facto, did.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

"either or both" is what I'd say today for maximum clarity. and/or is fine too (for me)

We have veggie and beef hotdogs. Would you like either or both?
Would you like a veggie and or a beef hotdog?
You can have either or both a soup and salad with your main dish.
You can have a soup and or salad with your main dish.
Will you be taking either or both Music History and Greek Mythology as elective courses this year?
Will you be taking Music History and or Greek Mythology as elective courses this year?