meaning - Use of "Or", inclusive or exclusive?


My wife and I are playing a game where you roll dice and move so many spaces in a grid "vertically or horizontally".


In the use of English it is very common to say, this or the other when it comes to making a choice (exclusive or). Now I know that "or" can also be inclusive, for example "she couldn't read or write", or can be clearly used as an xor "you either come or not" making the statement true for only one of the options but not both.


My issue is where it is not clear whether it is an inclusive/exclusive or, the best example being our game.


I argue that you can move in either direction (inclusive) and the normal use of this conjunction in English should be inclusive unless specified otherwise.


Is this right?



Answer



I agree with you (and have written to this effect here) that English or is ambiguous.


Alongside your “she couldn’t read or write” and Andrew Lazarus’ “You must be crazy or stupid” there are ordinary constructions like “Help yourself to chicken or ribs or chili or whatever strikes your fancy” and “I like Dickens better than Trollope or Scott or Thackeray” in which or is clearly not exclusive. If it were not so, lawyers and technical writers would never trouble to insert “but not both” to specifically exclude an inclusive reading, just as they insert “or both” to specifically exclude an exclusive reading.


Under ordinary circumstances, the context makes clear which meaning is intended. If a waiter tells you you may have mashed potatoes or fries with your steak, both of you know perfectly well he means one or the other but not both. On the other hand, if he asks if you would like coffee or dessert you do not understand him to forbid your ordering both coffee and a slice of pie.


But when there is no such context I would follow tchrist this far: the default reading is exclusive.


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