| 词组 | seldom ever, seldom if ever, seldom or ever, seldom or never |
| 释义 | seldom ever, seldom if ever, seldom or ever, seldom or never All of these idioms are intensive forms of seldom that have attracted a bit of attention from usage writers over the years (from the 1860s at least). The commentators are typically concerned with distinguishing between them or, alternatively, with reducing the field by rejecting one or two of them. Thus we find seldom ever criticized as redundant by one commentator, as self-contradictory by another (a contrary pair of opinions those are), and as absurd by a third. Seldom or ever is called meaningless or erroneous. The movement to oust seldom or never, however, died a-borning in the 19th century; Alford 1866 reports it but defends the phrase, and we hear no more of the complaint. Let us see how these phrases are actually used. Seldom ever, according to the OED, has been around since about 1000; like it or not, it is a well-aged idiom. Since we have in our files more complaints about it than examples of its use in print, we conclude that it is more frequently a feature of speech than of writing. Here is one of our few written examples: • ... consideration of curriculum is frequently postponed to some future date which seldom ever arrives —Dayton Benjamin, American School Board Jour., June 1968 Seldom or ever is not attested until the 18th century. It is perhaps a blend of seldom if ever and seldom or never. This undated example is probably older than the first citation in the OED: • We seldom or ever see those forsaken who trust in God —Francis Atterbury (in Raub 1897) If we can trust the considerable list of examples compiled by Hodgson 1889, seldom or ever must have been quite common during the 19th century. • Those who walk in their sleep have seldom or ever the most distant recollection that they have been dreaming —Sydney Smith, Moral Philosophy, 1850 (in Hodgson 1889) • Seldom or ever could I detect any approach to a labial —Alexander Ellis, Transactions of the Philological Society (in Jespersen 1917) We have no recent 20th-century examples, but we cannot say whether this version has dropped out of use entirely or has simply receded into speech. Seldom or never is dated back to 1398. Francis Bacon used it, and it is still common in the 20th century: • Younger Brothers are commonly Fortunate, but sel-dome or never, where the Elder are disinherited — Francis Bacon, Essays, 1625 • My interest is always in the subjective event, seldom or never in the objective event —H. L. Mencken, letter, 23 Apr. 1911 • ... elementary school, where home assignments are seldom or never given —Betty M. Shaw, NEA Jour., February 1965 Seldom if ever presents us with a bit of a problem from the standpoint of using it with seldom or never to explain seldom or ever as a blended form. The OED does not happen to show any examples of it, so the earliest evidence of its use we have is Alford's comments of 1866. It is well attested in 20th-century use: • ... words that seldom if ever appeared in the writings of those sophisticated enough to strive for what they regarded as standard form —Mathews 1931 • But the women at work in the shipyards and other war plants were seldom if ever called ladies —H. L. Mencken, The American Language, Supplement I, 1945 Our knowledge of these phrases is far from complete, but one thing that we can say with certainty now is that seldom if ever and seldom or never are the only ones commonly used in writing in the 20th century, and they are subject to no rational criticism. |
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