# Which way \[is the phrase "You don't have 10$, yet alone 5" or "You don't have 5$, yet alone 10?"\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 6, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311 "2016-04-06T00:46:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bomberswarm2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@bomberswarm2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bomberswarm2)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/1 "2016-04-06T00:46:52Z")
Is the phrase “You don’t have 10$, yet alone 5” or “You don’t have 5$, yet alone 10?” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/2 "2016-04-06T00:50:52Z")
The second. “You don’t have even half what you need, much less the whole thing” is a pretty good translation of the idiom. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/3 "2016-04-06T01:04:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The second. “You don’t have even half what you need, much less the whole thing” is a pretty good translation of the idiom. I agree. Although I always thought it was “x **let** alone y.” But I do seem to be hearing more and more people saying it the OP’s first way lately. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/4 "2016-04-06T01:09:12Z")
Never heard “yet,” always “let.” Never heard it the first way around, either. It’s an emphatic expression. “You haven’t succeeded. You haven’t even halfway succeeded.” (From Gilgamesh: Who is this who would conquer death, who cannot even conquer sleep?) ---
**Author:** ![bomberswarm2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c37758/32.png) [@bomberswarm2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bomberswarm2)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/5 "2016-04-06T01:10:53Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Never heard “yet,” always “let.” Never heard it the first way around, either. > > It’s an emphatic expression. “You haven’t succeeded. You haven’t even halfway succeeded.” > > (From Gilgamesh: Who is this who would conquer death, who cannot even conquer sleep?) So is it Half/Full or Full/Half? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/6 "2016-04-06T01:14:28Z")
Agree that it’s the second. If I first ask “Do you have $10?”, and you say no, then I can follow up by asking “OK, then, do you have $5?”. But suppose I ask the questions in the other order: I ask “Do you have $5?”, and you say no. I can let the second question, about $10, alone (i.e., not ask it), because I already know the answer. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/7 "2016-04-06T01:36:22Z")
Wow. I didn’t even notice the OP typed “yet alone”. Good catch there **Bayard**. It’s \*always \* 100% without fail been “let alone” in my experience. In 50 plus years I’ve never read or heard “yet alone.” Until the OP. I sure hope this isn’t another idiom about to be given the “could / couldn’t care less” treatment where any combination of almost-right words, no matter how nonsensical, becomes an accepted or at least heavily used, form of the expression. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/8 "2016-04-06T02:10:28Z")
> [@bomberswarm2](#): > > Is the phrase “You don’t have 10$, yet alone 5” or “You don’t have 5$, yet alone 10?” Thread title edited to indicate subject. Please don’t post meaningless thread titles. Especially don’t post fragments of the question when you can easily post the whole thing. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/9 "2016-04-06T04:25:53Z")
This honestly isn’t meant as snark and is perhaps (though I think not entirely) beside the point, but how can one go through life seeing prices marked with the dollar sign to the left of the number, yet when one goes to type or write it one’s self, one puts it to the right of the number? ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/10 "2016-04-06T04:38:31Z")
I have noticed as often as not that in movies, TV and sometimes TV news, the order is stated backwards from correct. Maybe it sounds better. But they do it. I can’t think of a cite for it. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/11 "2016-04-06T04:39:51Z")
> [@whc.03grady](#): > > This honestly isn’t meant as snark and is perhaps (though I think not entirely) beside the point, but how can one go through life seeing prices marked with the dollar sign to the left of the number, yet when one goes to type or write it one’s self, one puts it to the right of the number? Perhaps he lives [in](http://flyers.smartcanucks.ca/uploads/pages/1714/walmartqc-flyer-may-30-to-jun-5-1.jpg) [Quebec](http://www.groceryalerts.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/maxi_flyer_page_2.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/12 "2016-04-06T11:12:57Z")
I still haven’t figured out why the dollar sign goes to the left, anyway. You don’t read it as “Dollars ten”. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/13 "2016-04-06T12:47:18Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I still haven’t figured out why the dollar sign goes to the left, anyway. You don’t read it as “Dollars ten”. Because it establishes the unit of currency, then fills in the amount. In a way, you DO read it as “dollars ten”. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/14 "2016-04-06T13:30:07Z")
> [@whc.03grady](#): > > This honestly isn’t meant as snark and is perhaps (though I think not entirely) beside the point, but how can one go through life seeing prices marked with the dollar sign to the left of the number, yet when one goes to type or write it one’s self, one puts it to the right of the number? > [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Perhaps he lives [in](http://flyers.smartcanucks.ca/uploads/pages/1714/walmartqc-flyer-may-30-to-jun-5-1.jpg) [Quebec](http://www.groceryalerts.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/maxi_flyer_page_2.jpg). Don’t a lot of countries place the symbol after the numbers? I was under the impression that the Euro symbol goes after the number most places. I’m not sure where **bomberswarm2** is, but I presume he’s from a country that observes that convention. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/15 "2016-04-06T13:51:29Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > Don’t a lot of countries place the symbol after the numbers? I was under the impression that the Euro symbol goes after the number most places. I’m not sure where **bomberswarm2** is, but I presume he’s from a country that observes that convention. Indeed they do. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/16 "2016-04-06T14:05:50Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I have noticed as often as not that in movies, TV and sometimes TV news, the order is stated backwards from correct. Maybe it sounds better. But they do it. I can’t think of a cite for it. I know that I come across it the wrong way round once in a while. I had thought I was reading it but maybe it was movies or TV. It always annoys me when I hear or see it. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/17 "2016-04-06T15:50:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I still haven’t figured out why the dollar sign goes to the left, anyway. You don’t read it as “Dollars ten”. > [@panache45](#): > > Because it establishes the unit of currency, then fills in the amount. In a way, you DO read it as “dollars ten”. And yet, in the rare occasion you see a cent mark, it’s after the quantity, completely unlike the dollar mark. So we’re not even internally consistent. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![sbunny8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@sbunny8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sbunny8)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/18 "2016-04-06T17:09:42Z")
> [@bomberswarm2](#): > > So is it Half/Full or Full/Half? correct usage: “You don’t have $5, let alone 10” The order is half-“let alone”-full. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/19 "2016-04-06T19:52:44Z")
But every other unit, we give the number first, and then the unit. We don’t say that a person is cm 180 tall, for instance (specifying the unit, and then the quantity). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311/20 "2016-04-06T20:15:41Z")
Funny, but when I see something like “$10” I read it as “ten dollars”. Likewise “£10” is “ten pounds” and “€10” is “ten euros.” But when I read “USD10” I mentally pronounce that as “you-ess-dee ten” or “you-ess dollars ten”. Likewise “SFR10” is “ess-eff-arr 10” or occasionally “swiss francs 10” and “EUR10” is “your ten”. Why? No clue. It’s just how my habit developed. Anybody else read currency symbols & labels inconsistently or am I all alone in this nutty behavior? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-way-is-the-phrase-you-dont-have-10-yet-alone-5-or-you-dont-have-5-yet-alone-10/751311.md?page=2)