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If I am looking for one or more of A/B/C, but nothing else, and I want to tell that to somebody, do I say "I am only looking for A, B, and C" or "I am only looking for A, B, or C"?

An example with some context:

I would like some definitive information about frumblebumps. I am only looking for articles, links, [and | or] first-hand accounts.

Does the "and" version imply that I am looking for all three and will not accept a partial set? Does the "or" version imply an exclusive or?

If "and" is the appropriate word, then how do I differentiate that from the case where I am looking for all three items as a set? If "or" is the appropriate word, then how do I differentiate that from the case where I am looking for exactly one of the items?

Jason C
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  • possible duplicate of Alternatives to "and/or"? – FumbleFingers Feb 21 '14 at 16:33
  • @FumbleFingers I disagree. I did see that question before posting this. My question is specifically about expressing "one or more" in a collection. Doug T.'s answer in the linked question is somewhat related, but other than that, mine is a different question (and has subquestions that are not addressed there). :) – Jason C Feb 21 '14 at 18:28
  • There are several questions on this issue. Try “Either A, or B, or both”, or the potential duplicates listed there. – FumbleFingers Feb 21 '14 at 18:37
  • Are you implying that I should say "I am looking for either A, or B, or C, or A and B, or A and C, or B and C, or all three?" If not, then the answer is not in that question nor in any of the linked ones I could find there. – Jason C Feb 21 '14 at 18:54
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    I didn't "imply" anything, but since you're specifically asking me, I'll just say that usually you can't reliably disambiguate simply by juggling and's and or's. I don't even understand what it might mean to be only looking for "things" which are simultaneously an "article, a link, and a first-hand account". For some more credible criteria, you could say you want anything that matches any of the specifications, or only things that match all the specifications. – FumbleFingers Feb 21 '14 at 19:06
  • Thanks! As for implications, you did imply that my question was already answered elsewhere, and that was the general answer given elsewhere; I assumed the "answered elsewhere" flag was because you reviewed those answers and found them adequate. :) – Jason C Feb 21 '14 at 19:31
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    Based on the criteria that you've listed above, if you're looking for one or more of A/B/C then you'd correctly say "or". I'm basing this on my programmatic knowledge, in which everything needs to be literal. "And" would imply that you were looking for all 3, and that all 3 would need to be present for the argument to be considered true. "Or" would imply that any combination of the 3 would suffice the argument, and would be true if at least one or more of A/B/C was present. – SQLSavant Feb 21 '14 at 21:03
  • Additionally, this link may help shed some light. It's referencing logical gates for electronics - https://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/kthanasi/csc252/Lectures/lecture7/images/symbols.gif – SQLSavant Feb 21 '14 at 21:09
  • How about I am only looking for A's, B's, or C's? – Nico Feb 24 '14 at 12:29
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    I think you're trying to treat a human language too much like a computer programming language. Neither conjunction unambiguously implies either case; if the intended meaning isn't clear from the context, then you need to make it clear in some other way. – Neil Coffey Feb 24 '14 at 16:45
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    In writing patent claims this comes up all the time. We would write "where the widget is comprised of at least one material chosen from the list A, B, and C". – George White Feb 25 '14 at 03:29
  • @NeilCoffey Thanks; that's a good point about context (and, I am a programmer... I guess it shows). Sometimes when I stare at a sentence too long and overthink it, the context fades away. I think I had a little case of tunnel vision here. – Jason C Feb 25 '14 at 03:47
  • @GeorgeWhite The joys of legal writing, I guess... – Jason C Feb 25 '14 at 03:49

1 Answers1

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I think the meaning you want to express is best conveyed by:

I am only looking for A's, B's, and C's

Neither "I am only looking for A, B, and C" nor "I am only looking for A, B, or C" convey the possibility of multiple occurances.

Nico
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    Thanks. What if I do want to be explicit about those cases? Would I use "I am looking for all of A, B, and C" / "I am looking for exactly one of A, B, or C"? (The "and" case seems awkward.) – Jason C Feb 25 '14 at 03:52
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    In the first case, I would say "I am looking for all of the A's, B's and C's". I can't pinpoint what it is, but although the meaning of the second sentence sounds right, when I read it, somehow, it feels clunky. – Nico Feb 25 '14 at 07:12
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    Hm, "I am looking for all of the A's, B's, and C's" reads to me like "I am looking for *every single thing* that is an A, a B, or a C" - I think what I actually meant was "I am looking for anything that is an A, a B, and also a C". I had no idea this had so many other possibilities. "I am looking for anything that is an article, a link, and a first-hand account" as opposed to "I am looking for all of the articles, links, and first-hand accounts". – Jason C Feb 25 '14 at 07:22