Sic!

-- by JLS
---- for the GC

--- AGAIN from Quinion:

"Jerry Fox was left uncertain how to proceed when he looked up the
maintenance contract for the lawn sprinklers at his place of work.
One sentence read, "The property owner shall call and schedule an
appointment between the months of April and May.""

Now:

-- to call this "sic!" as Quinion does is an exaggeration? I am trying to think of a phrase, I think I heard, of the form, "and the .... in between", which was meant as a sarcastic comment. I am thinking of 'the houses in between' but that (music-hall number) is not what I'm meaning. Anyway:

i. The property owner shall call and
schedule an appointment between the months of April and May.

I would think Kramer would find it 'precieux' to have:

ii. [He] should call and schedule
an appointment DURING (the months of) April and May.

?

Caveats:

1. Surely we don't need to be reminded that April and May are months. It's part of what we mean by "April" and "March". "July" is different, because, in Roman, it can be a boy's name.

----

2. We seem to suspect this utterer is of the 'redundant' variety. After all, the 'he' is expanded as the 'property owner'. This is not what Fox found problematic, though. And it seems to be MORE informative (or restrictive than is required). For Fox, who may not own the property, can HE 'call and schedule'. Cannot the property USER do just that?) (Legal user, we expect). No. It seems we do need an authorisation from th owner. So perhaps 'property owner' is NOT redundant.

"The property owner shall call and schedule an
appointment between the months of April and May."

The idea that 'between' is exclusive is indeed pervasive:

"Curly was seated exactly between Moe and Larry".

On the other hand

1, 2, 3,

We say "2" is between 1 and 3.

So the 'implicature' of

'Sometime "between the months of April and May""

would seem to be, 'unwanted' of course, and thus NOT an implicature,

"but NEITHER x nor y"

"The people between Moe and Larry are scrooges." CANNOT be "Moe and Larry" even if we KNOW they ARE scrooges.

------

One problem with 'between' is that it's never 'meant'. "In between my uncle, my aunt, and my silly cousins, I prefer Denmark".

Similar unwanted 'implicatures' attach to:

"He had only one alternative before him."

"He had mainly three alternatives before him."

"She had two twins."

"Both my mother and my father and my uncle are French."

----

Etc.

"Between you and me, he is an idiot".

In this case, one may object, the illocutionary force indicator device is, "If you allow me to tell you, just to you: he is an idiot."

This locution, 'between you and me" is often not used strictly. Matter of fact, my friend Jack constantly misuses it as "Between you and I" as he uses his loud cell phone when I am witnessing all the gossip he is just so confidentially reporting. People. (Can't they read Grice more often?). Ah well.

----

It really is a very pretty garden,
and Chingford to the eastward could be seen.
With a ladder and some glasses
you could see to Hackney marshes
if it wasn't for the houses in between

Let me tell you:

It really is a very pretty garden
and Rye House from the cockloft could be seen
where the chickweed man undresses
to bathe among the water cresses
if it wasn't for the 'ouses in between

And I'll add:

It really is a very VERY pretty garden
and Hendon to the westward could be seen
and by clinging to the chimbley
you could see across to Wembley
if it wasn't for the houses in between.

Finally, I'll add: not to repeat what I've just said more than twice (Have you noticed how people redundantly misuse 'repeat' ("repeat again" when they just MEAN, 'repeat', often -- 'to repeat again' would be a third time).

For: it really is a very pretty garden
and soapworks from the housetops could be seen
if I got a rope and pulley
I'd enjoy the breeze more fully
if it wasn't for the houses in between.