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You are clearly a philosopher of language and thought and so I am reluctant to contradict you, but it has been my experience that the construction "A or B" is m
by shasta 14y ago
You are clearly a philosopher of language and thought and so I am reluctant to contradict you, but it has been my experience that the construction "A or B" is more commonly used when A and B are non-equivalent. Perhaps you're thinking of the situation where B is an acronym inside parentheses, as in: random access memory (or RAM).
Applying that experience to the sentence in question (and probably because I am not as vigilant as you in detecting attacks against freedom), I read it to distinguish activists who would perhaps be wearing a faux-bomb as protest against security measures from terrorists who would be wearing a real bomb watch.
I look forward to your well reasoned response.
- derekp7 14y agoI'll take a stab at this. Many times "A or B" are used when they are different in some way, but both have something in common. For example, an alternative to driving to work is to bike or walk. It's cold out side, so I need a jacket or sweater. Can you call or email me when you get the results. In all these cases, the A or B construct is used to tie together items that share something (alternatives to driving, cold-weather add on clothing, and methods of communication, in these three cases).