"Not available in all Areas"?

[ouryL]

@Sdowiat

Wouldn’t it be more logical for advertisements that say “Not available in all Areas” to instead say “Not available in SOME areas”?

Can’t the original statement be taken to mean: “In all areas they aren’t available” while “Not available in SOME areas” has to mean exactly what they are intending for it to mean?

And- If this is correct, then why do all the ad’s state it the worst way?

Here, in Hawaii, we take to mean: Hawaii, Alaska, and parts outside the US.

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[RivkahChaya]

@Keeve

I have no problem with “not all”. To me, it is the same as “some”.

My problem is with “all not”, as in, “All that glitters is not gold”, which means (to me) that “If it glitters then it is certainly not gold.” It ought to be phrased, “Not all that glitters is gold.”

In The Merchant of Venice, it’s “All that glisters is not gold–/Often you have heard that told.” That’s what most people are trying to quote. It has rhyme and meter (trochaic), so it has to be written the way it is. Anyway, if you read the entire thing, it means that a gilded outside does not guarantee a gold inside-- some things are not solid gold, but rather plated. So, in context, it makes sense.

But you are right that when it is quoted out of context, it is ambiguous.

[Sean_the_Dog]

Does “No Smoking is Allowed” mean you are allowed to not smoke?

I was driving one way and saw a sign that said “No, you turn”, so I did…

(Please don’t hate me… : ) )

---

“Stay the blazes home” - Stephen McNeil, Premier of Nova Scotia

[Mark_Finn]

When I see a sign “Bill Posters Will Be Prosecuted” - should I feel sorry for poor Bill?

[Wendell_Wagner]

This matter of interpreting sentences or phrases (like “Not available in all areas”) has been studied by people in the field of linguistics. I just remembered (and so dug up) my paper on a little bit of this topic, the only paper I ever got published in linguistics. I’ve been out of the field for 43 years, so I can’t claim to know anything about recent thinking about this subject. My paper may be nonsense for all I know, since I haven’t bothered to completely re-read it. The only thing I can contribute to this discussion is that interpreting a sentence depends on the presuppositions you’re making at the time you’re hearing the sentence. Because the phrase “Not available in all areas” can mean either “There are areas where it is not available” and “There are no areas where it is available”, you have to fall back on your presuppositions about why someone would say the phrase. Since it’s unlikely that someone would advertise a product and then say that it’s impossible to obtain it anywhere, the more likely meaning is that there are some areas where it’s not available.

[BwanaBob]

It’s all in the paretheses.

NOT (AVAILABLE IN ALL AREAS) vs (NOT AVAILABLE) IN SOME AREAS