Timeline for What does the word "just" mean in this context?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
9 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 14, 2020 at 19:53 | comment | added | Bladewood | I agree with this answer. Obviously, it's not as simple as replacing "just" with "only," but the general meaning is there. I interpret the use of "just" here to mean "only" in the sense of, "Do not disturb. That's all I want." | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 11:25 | comment | added | sam_smith | Ah you’re right - I misunderstood the context before. I agree with your answer but don’t feel it is quite as clear as it could it. It might an example could make it more concise | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 11:18 | comment | added | Peter | The word "just" in these contexts is not time-relayed except incidentally, it is scope-related. Don't do other things, like asking reasons, waiting, thinking about who to kick to, buying other stuff. Do only the requested task (not disturbing, going, kicking, buying milk). When the request is negative you can do other things that do not conflict, but when the request is positive anything else can conflict. | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 7:08 | comment | added | sam_smith |
Not meaning to be difficult but the examples given: "Just go", "just kick the ball" have a different meaning than the above case. In those just means essentially "do it now": "Go now, kick the ball now". In "Just don't" the meaning is different showing more of an expectation that the t-shirt wearer will be disturbed and so is pre-empting that.
|
|
| Jul 14, 2020 at 7:02 | comment | added | Peter | I was trying for a more generally applicable statement. Consider "Just go", "Just kick the ball", "Just buy the milk" as other examples. I agree the explanation is not idiomatic - I would say "Just ...." | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 6:49 | comment | added | sam_smith | I would probably learn more towards: "don't disturb me, I know you are going to disturb me anyway so I am preempting that by reiterating not to disturb me". Again the sentence "don't disturb me and don't do anything different" doesn't feel very idiomatic to me | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 6:44 | comment | added | Peter | @simon_smiley, The word "only" cannot replace the word "just", as you have pointed out, but I think it is the simplest explanation. "Just don't!", abbreviated from "Just don't disturb me", means "don't disturb me and don't do anything different." | |
| Jul 14, 2020 at 6:20 | comment | added | sam_smith |
The sentence do not disturb, only don't doesn't make sense. In the above case I don't think we can simply replace just with another word without losing some of the meaning.
|
|
| Jul 14, 2020 at 1:09 | history | answered | Peter | CC BY-SA 4.0 |