eat out only on Sundays

[navi tasan]

We don't eat out only on Sundays.

Is that sentence ambiguous?

Can't it mean these two things?
1) It is not true that we eat out only on Sundays. There are other days on which we eat out as well.
2) Only on Sundays do we not eat out. We eat out every other day of the week.

 

[emsr2d2]

I would take it to mean #1. However, that's not how I would word it. I'd say "We don't eat out just on Sundays!" or "It's not just on Sunday that we eat out!", with clear stress on "just".
For it to mean #2, it would read "We don't eat out on Sundays". However, that alone doesn't mean that you eat out every other day. It simply means that you never eat out on a Sunday.

 

[Rover_KE]

That reminds me of the time I went into a Publix store in Orlando, Florida to buy beer.

A sign on the drinks section said ALCOHOL ONLY SOLD ON SUNDAYS AFTER TEN A.M.

I was really disappointed—it was only Friday and I hadn't time to wait.

 

[emsr2d2]

That reminds me of the time I went into a Publix store in Orlando, Florida to buy beer.

A sign on the drinks section said ALCOHOL ONLY SOLD ON SUNDAYS AFTER TEN A.M.

I was really disappointed—it was only Friday and I hadn't time to wait.

I'd have been very disappointed if I'd gone in there on a Sunday after 10am and wanted to buy something that wasn't alcohol!