Timeline for Olive Garden: "The cheese keeps coming 'til you say 'when'"
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
23 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 15, 2023 at 16:55 | comment | added | Chris H | @A.R. "just let me know" seems fine, and could be most likely from me. "Just say the word" seems odd ("just say" would be more normal). So there's clearly some variation, whether geographic or something else | |
| Sep 15, 2023 at 16:19 | answer | added | supercat | timeline score: 1 | |
| Sep 15, 2023 at 15:31 | answer | added | Nicolas Daoust | timeline score: 1 | |
| Sep 15, 2023 at 13:49 | comment | added | OpenAI was the last straw | @ChrisH I wouldn't say "Just say when." In that context. I'd probably say something like "Just let me know" or "Just say the word" (another idiom). | |
| Sep 15, 2023 at 9:10 | comment | added | Billy Kerr | @ChrisH and I disagree with you. In fact I would go so far as to say I don't think I have ever heard anybody use "say when", when serving food, to mean "tell me when to start". Your example is extremely odd/contrived IMHO. | |
| Sep 15, 2023 at 9:05 | comment | added | Chris H | @BillyKerr your words: in the context of serving food/drink it generally means "tell me when to stop". I disagree, and provide an example where, in the context of serving, it means tell me when to start. If the context is that they have already started pouring, you can't tell them when to start, only when to stop, but that's a tighter context than your wrote in the comment I was replying to. | |
| Sep 15, 2023 at 8:57 | comment | added | Billy Kerr | @Chris - As I have said already, that is a different context. If someone is in the process of pouring a drink or putting cheese on your pasta, and they "say when", it means "tell me when to stop". | |
| Sep 15, 2023 at 8:52 | comment | added | Chris H | @BillyKerr "I can get you more wine if you like, just say when" | |
| Sep 15, 2023 at 6:51 | answer | added | Mari-Lou A | timeline score: 2 | |
| Sep 14, 2023 at 16:16 | vote | accept | CDR | ||
| Sep 14, 2023 at 16:13 | answer | added | DotCounter | timeline score: 20 | |
| Sep 14, 2023 at 12:15 | vote | accept | CDR | ||
| Sep 14, 2023 at 16:15 | |||||
| Sep 14, 2023 at 12:07 | comment | added | JMac | Even putting aside the idiomatic nature of "say when" I'm not sure how you landed at your interpretation. The use of "until" implies that what happens at the end will not be the same as what is before "until". An obvious tautological example, "the train wont be here until it is here". "Wont be here" and "is here" are opposite. Saying "the train wont be here until it isnt here" doesnt really make any sense. To me, that second statement is similar, saying "the cheese wont keep coming until you say when it should keep coming", which isnt how until usually works. | |
| Sep 14, 2023 at 8:56 | comment | added | Davor | "Say when" is short for "Say when to stop". So "X keeps coming until you say when to stop" is perfectly clear and normal sentence. | |
| Sep 14, 2023 at 0:31 | history | became hot network question | |||
| Sep 13, 2023 at 17:42 | answer | added | Greg Bacon | timeline score: 16 | |
| Sep 13, 2023 at 17:27 | comment | added | TimR on some device | @BillKerr: I thought OP was a native speaker: "stop with the cheese" sounded pretty 'murkin to me. | |
| Sep 13, 2023 at 17:16 | answer | added | James K | timeline score: 52 | |
| Sep 13, 2023 at 17:01 | comment | added | Billy Kerr | @TimR yes, you are correct, it depends on context, however in the context of serving food/drink it generally means "tell me when to stop", as in "Here, have some more wine. Just say when". But I think the main problem here is the OP doesn't realise that it's an idiom. Idioms often confuse learners, especially if they don't know it's an idiom/expression with a hidden/non-literal meaning. They try to parse it as if it's literal, and then wonder why it doesn't make any logical sense. | |
| Sep 13, 2023 at 16:48 | comment | added | TimR on some device | Actually, "say when" means "until you tell me to do the opposite of what I'm doing" and it can mean start or stop, depending on the context. I won't put the burgers on the grill until you say when. | |
| Sep 13, 2023 at 16:44 | comment | added | Billy Kerr | The original sentence is correct. To "say when" is an idiom. It's not literal. It means "tell me when to stop". The meaning never changes. | |
| Sep 13, 2023 at 16:42 | comment | added | TimR on some device | Not sure how you got to where you got. When someone is pouring a beverage into your glass, they say "Say when" meaning "I will keep pouring until you tell me to stop (or the glass is full)". The beverage will keep coming until you say when. will keep coming = won't stop. | |
| Sep 13, 2023 at 16:31 | history | asked | CDR | CC BY-SA 4.0 |