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Topic: Let alone

Today we mark the 1905 birth of Greta Lovisa Gustafsson. Better remembered as Greta Garbo, the Swedish-born movie actress starred in both silents and talkies, retired from the industry before turning 40, and went on to live more than another 40 years out of the public eye. Although she is believed to have said "I want to be alone," Garbo later clarified "I never said 'I want to be alone'; I said, 'I want to be let alone.' There is all the difference."

Today we're not leaving well enough alone; instead, we're looking at let alone and its linguistic kin.

The glamorous and seclusion-seeking Garbo used let alone in its sense "to leave to oneself"; but let alone can also mean "to refrain from interfering with, to leave undisturbed" (as in, "they could not let well enough alone"). It can also mean "to exclude from consideration" (as when a political party "lets the question of how to pay for its policies alone").

And yes, let alone does share similar senses with leave alone. Leave alone can be used to mean "to leave in solitude"; it can also mean "to refrain from touching or disturbing" and "to refrain from using or having to do with."

Questions or comments? Write us at wftw@aol.com Production and research support for Word for the Wise comes from Merriam-Webster, publisher of language reference books and Web sites including Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition.

Ouch, sounds annoying