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Mis-placed 'only'.

Mis-placed?? How about not needed? Delete the word only from all three quotes and the meaning does not change from what was intended . Same in the other thread.

cats spread Toxoplasma in their feces for a few weeks
Actual quote is
...cats only spread Toxoplasma in their feces for a few weeks following infection with the parasite.

Cannot see any difference.
from quote
 
Psi Baba said:
In the building I work in there used to be a sign in one of the restrooms that read:
"Put paper towels ONLY in the waste receptacle." It looks like they meant don't throw the paper towels on the floor or in the toilets, but I knew that what they really meant was "Put ONLY paper towels in the waste receptacle," even though that's not what the sign said.
I know of a tatoo parlor with a sign in the window: "No one will be tatooed under the age of 18." It reminds me of that Groucho Marx line in Animal Crackers, No trains will be sold until after the magazine leaves the depot.
Click to expand...

A recent TV ad (which ran far too long) had a testimonial from a customer saying "(such-and-such product) has almost cut my bills in half."

I think it would be better to have one's bills cut ALMOST in half, than to come tantalyzingly close to having one's bills cut in half, only to suffer bitter disappointment....
 
rjh01 said:
Mis-placed?? How about not needed? Delete the word only from all three quotes and the meaning does not change from what was intended .
Click to expand...
Here are the three quotes with the corrections...


1).....a cat will only shed oocysts for about two weeks in its entire life, if it gets infected.
1).....a cat will shed oocysts for only about two weeks in its entire life, if it gets infected.

2).....freshly-passed oocysts are not infective, they are only infective after 24 hours have elapsed.....
2).....freshly-passed oocysts are not infective, they are infective only after 24 hours have elapsed

3).....these rules have only been recommended for pregnant women.....
3).....these rules have been recommended only for pregnant women.....


As for the "only" being optional....
In (1), you want to emphasize the short period of time that it is infective (because you want to emphasize that it is not easy to become infected)
In (2), again you want to emhasize that it is not easy to get infected.
In (3), Leaving out the "only" reduces the information. Saying it is recommended for pregnant women, doesn't mean that it is not recommended for other groups of people. Using the "only" does.

BillyJoe.
 
Even Randi has trouble. From this weeks commentary:

Randi: This book has only been out for a few months....
Correction: This book has been out for only a few months....

BJ
 
Call me stupid but I have yet to receive good anwsers to my original questions above, ie does it matter? What else could Randi have meant?

I am not going to argue with you about rules.
 
righto,

I am going to repeat what you said above, except that I'm not going to worry about the spelling.

Clal me spuitd but I hvae yet to reviecee good aswrens to my oagniril qutseonis avboe, ie deos it mtetar? Waht esle culod Rdnai hvae mneat? I am not ginog to augre wtih you auobt reuls.

You can read it, right? You get the meaning, right? So what does it matter? So fcuk the rleus of slelpnig!

BJ
 
rjh01 said:
Call me stupid ...
Click to expand...
Seems a bit over the top but OK. You're stupid.

Variatios would be: Only you're stupid.

Or: You're only stupid.

These have totally different meanings which means that only that only you're only stupid. Only.
 
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