Elsewho

L. M. Tapper is, perhaps, right. I do use "elsewhere" way too often. It´s "understandable", he writes, but it shouldn´t!

I have not done the OED on this but "else-" qua suffix strikes me as odd. Surely "else-" we should be able to affix to all types of erotetic particles.

Where was the man killed?
In that place?
No. Not that place. The other place.
Elsewhere.

Who killed Cock Robin?
The Wren?
No. Not _her_
The other. The other who.
*Elsewho

In "Aspects of Reason" Grice elaborates on the logic of ? and ¿.

(Erotetics).

In principle, any feature of an utterance should be interrogated.

"To the hospital?"

"No, not TO the hospital, FROM the hospital."

This is a tricky one. For the variable becomes the preposition. How would you ASK about it?

"Else" possibly does not just mean "the other".

It seems to mean, strictly, "SOME" other.

There´s "elsewhen", "elsewho", "elsewhat", and "elsewhy".

Most erotetic particles start with "wh-", except, I find, "how". This starts with "h", and it´s pronounced exactly as "prostitute" in the South of the U. S. A. Funny that.

In Roman (times) I think they ALL started with "qv-".

Still, Grice is right, I think, in preferring x-questions to name these, rather than wh-questions (for ´how´ starts with an ´h´).

The other type is "yes/no" questions as in the mediaeval adage,

tu non cessas edere ferrum

or

have you stopped beating your wife? (Grice, 1961, online at R. R. Bayne´s place).

---

yes/no questions are perhaps easier to decode than x-questions. For one, they don´t seem to allow for multiple eroteticising.

Whether x-questions do.

"Tell me who and where she did it"

This is:

Who (females only need apply)
and where
did it?

Etc.

I have expanded on this elsewhere (Lit-Ideas, Phil-Lit) at much more detail, Erotetics, or Who Killed Cock Robin -- along Grice´s commentary in "Aspects of Reason" where he uses "prothetic" and "alethic" variabilisations of things. Also Belnap, etc.

JL