Jennifer, in the process of cleaning, found a dryer ball.

[conuly]

You put them in the dryer, and they bounce around and your clothes dry faster. So she told me, and I told her I'd already put the first one back in the dryer where it lives, and she said that now I have *all* of them.

Me: Both of them.
Her: Which is all of them.

Admittedly, that's true, but... can you say "all" when you're only counting two to begin with? Or is that like at the tea party, having more tea when you haven't had any to begin with?

Comments

[pne]

I think this is leaving the realm of semantics and entering that of pragmatics. Or something.

I would say that "all" is inappropriate if you know that there are exactly two. And I think the reason is similar to how "I had some cake" is inappropriate when you, in fact, ate all of the cake - or how "My name was Connie yesterday" is inappropriate if that is your name every day. Or "The sun may rise tomorrow" when chances are greater than 99.99% that it will do so.

You're being too precise or not precise enough. I think Grice's axioms are also relevant here.

[neurotica0.livejournal.com]

I can see it both ways in this case. Recently, Adam told me that he would feed "all of the animals," and I felt he should have said "both" instead. The added layer I can see here is that "all" tells you not only that both are found, but also the set consists of only two (if you hadn't already known that).

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Surely "both" also implies that the set consists only of two?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Yup. It implies that the set consists only and precisely of two.

Actually, "all" takes that layer away instead of adding it - it implies that there are more than one (because of the plural) and also more than two (otherwise, one would've used "both"). It doesn't specify number, though, aside from "at least three"...

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

My linguistic instinct would be to say that heck, if there is a specific dual form, as there is in this case, it's the only correct choice. We're not talking mathematics (where both "2" and "all" are correct in this case, just as "1" and "all" would be correct if you only had one dryer ball to start with), after all.

(Germans have it easier - we've got the phrase alle beide, "all both of them", for just this case. XD)

[ourstreets.livejournal.com]

Hey! How are you all - I heard about some mandatory evacuations in NY and wanted to tocuh base with you guys. I also realized I don't have -any- of your phone numbers anymore. Anyway. I just wanted to check in with you. Also if there is anything I can help with please let me know.

And in actual response to this post - I think saying "all" for two, while probably grammatically acceptable, is a little unnecessary. :P

[ourstreets.livejournal.com]

Btw, this is Katy/Xiggy - I changed my sn a while back.

[conuly]

We're fine :) I'm just about to post, actually. We're just uphill of the evacuation zone, and both school and work are canceled tomorrow, so no need to go into the city.

Email me, I'll send you everybody's phone numbers.

[ourstreets.livejournal.com]

Still conuly@yahoo.com?

[conuly]

Yup.

[ourstreets.livejournal.com]

Sent!