My version of the “could care less” pet peeve (which is annoying but tolerable) is when people reverse the order of the cases in a “let alone” phrase. The entire point of “let alone” is that you fail to meet the general case, so of course you don’t satisfy the specific case.
For example, if I asked someone “Have you ever been to Germany?” they might answer “I’ve never been to Germany, let alone Europe!” As is, this is nonsensical, but if you reverse the order, all is well. Most examples in the wild aren’t this obvious, but they’re commonplace once you start looking for them.
I actually still don’t understand how this phrase is supposed to be used. Can you explain what is meant by reversing the order? Which parts are supposed to be switched?
You’re supposed to give the generic thing first. The specific thing also needs to be in the same group as the generic thing.
So Europe - Germany as per the example above, Germany is in Europe, so visiting Germany means you’ve been to Europe, but visiting Europe doesn’t mean you’ve been to Germany.
Other examples: “I can barely afford food, let alone a new Porsche”. Not being able to afford food means that you necessarily can’t afford a new Porsche, but not being able to afford a new Porsche doesn’t say anything about your ability to afford food.
My version of the “could care less” pet peeve (which is annoying but tolerable) is when people reverse the order of the cases in a “let alone” phrase. The entire point of “let alone” is that you fail to meet the general case, so of course you don’t satisfy the specific case.
For example, if I asked someone “Have you ever been to Germany?” they might answer “I’ve never been to Germany, let alone Europe!” As is, this is nonsensical, but if you reverse the order, all is well. Most examples in the wild aren’t this obvious, but they’re commonplace once you start looking for them.
I actually still don’t understand how this phrase is supposed to be used. Can you explain what is meant by reversing the order? Which parts are supposed to be switched?
You’re supposed to give the generic thing first. The specific thing also needs to be in the same group as the generic thing. So Europe - Germany as per the example above, Germany is in Europe, so visiting Germany means you’ve been to Europe, but visiting Europe doesn’t mean you’ve been to Germany.
Other examples: “I can barely afford food, let alone a new Porsche”. Not being able to afford food means that you necessarily can’t afford a new Porsche, but not being able to afford a new Porsche doesn’t say anything about your ability to afford food.