grammar - Use of ‘or’ when it means ‘and’ in negatives





How does negation affect the use and understanding of “or” and “and”



If I want to negate a sentence such as



I like beer and whiskey. [Most commonly understood as, I think, I like beer and I like whiskey.]



I have to convert the and to an or:



I don't like beer or whiskey.



There's no sense of an or in the second sentence, so its inclusion seems a bit perverse. I realise that I could say



I don't like beer and whiskey.



but that would mean something different:



I don't like (beer and whiskey).



rather than the intended



(I don't like beer) and (I don't like whiskey).



So my question is: what's going on here? Why do we have to make this change?




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