Talk:too

The following reform proposals have no place in the description of a word. Eclecticology 00:03, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Reform

• Proposal: Stop using the word "too."
• Why? Homophones are undesirable and confusing to people learning English.
• Replacement: The appropriate synonym should be used instead of "too."
• Dissent: "Too" is a very common word in English.

Examples

• I want to come too. I also want to come. I want to come as well.
• That candy is too sweet for me. That candy is sweeter than I like.
• You are too kind. You are very kind.

Basic English 850

• as well (1)
• more (2)
• very (3)

The Third Meaning

Why the third meaning has been removed? Aursani 12:14, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Presumably because the definitions were identical. Angr 11:47, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

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too

Just the recently added (anonymously) Usage notes proscribing the use of this word. Which organizations and style guides in which countries consider this word "unprofessional"? We should be specific. --EncycloPetey 20:42, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

I've never seen it proscribed, and the OED has no indication of "unprofessional". I wonder what the editor had in mind. Dbfirs 21:25, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

I can think of two senses that would be inappropriate in formal writing: the highly informal "very" sense ("that's just too cute!") and the mostly-informal "in addition" sense ("Please hire me, I am a team player and a great writer too"). On the other hand the "excessively" sense, which I think of as the primary one, would be OK in most contexts. -- Visviva 08:47, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

RFV failed, usage note removed. —Ruakh_TALK 00:56, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

"Too" used in the negative

I think the following is not covered in the definitions given:

"I am not too tall" does not mean "I am not excessively tall" -- rather it means "I am relatively short". Duoduoduo 17:38, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

But it could just as easily mean "I am not excessively tall."  Consider the following dialogue:

John:        Mark is too tall.
Luke:        Is this true, Mark?
Mark:        Absolutely not.
Matthew:  Can you state for the record whether you are too tall?
Mark:        I am not too tall.
Matthew:  Thank you.
John:        Well, if you're not too tall, then what are you?  Huh?
Mark:        Appropriately tall.  Not too tall, not insufficiently tall—appropriately tall.
John:        Oh.  Yeah, I guess I could see that.
Luke:        Wait, what does that mean?
John:        It means Mark is tall, but not too tall as I had initially claimed.
Luke:        So, just to be clear, Mark, you're not saying that you're relatively short, only that you are not too tall—correct?
Mark:        Correct.
Matthew:  Can you state for the record whether you are relatively short?
Mark:        I am not relatively short, nor am I too tall.  Rather, I am appropriately tall.
Matthew:  Thank you.
Luke:        And are you voting Libertarian, Mark?
Mark:        Yes.  Yes, I am.
Luke:        Cool.

Clearly, in such a scenario, one can issue the claim "I am not too tall" without meaning "I am not excessively tall."  allixpeeke (talk) 02:45, 19 April 2016 (UTC)

Proposal of Etymology

Is there a possibility that this word actually came from "thereto", used after an additional item, with the "there" being eventually dropped? Ex. "I bought a house, and a car thereto." 66.112.119.157 05:28, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

Nope. Chuck Entz (talk) 09:36, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

"just as X cannot, so too Y cannot"

Is the meaning used in the following sentence added yet? "just as X cannot, so too Y cannot" --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:14, 26 November 2019 (UTC)

only too : very

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/only+too --Backinstadiums (talk) 21:39, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

(used with a negative word or phrase) extremely; very She wasn't too pleased with his behavior. In these cases not too adds a note of ironic understatement --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:23, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

Is too meaning very actually a Negative Polarity Term? can be used in questions? --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:29, 30 August 2021 (UTC)

not at all, none too

I’m not too sure that you’re right (= not at all sure ) --Backinstadiums (talk) 17:14, 27 February 2021 (UTC)