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HSS Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

But

Basically I eat pretty good. But if I'm hungry, and there's something in front of me, I eat that.

How come do you think this person used "but" after he said "eat pretty good"? "Eating pretty good" does not contradict with the latter statement, does it?

Hiro
  

Top answer

First of all, it's better to say "I eat pretty well". This means that the speaker generally eats good quality food, but if he's hungry he eats anything, even if it's not good quality. That's where the contradiction is.

— J Lewis

  • First of all, it's better to say "I eat pretty well".
  • This means that the speaker generally eats good quality food, but if he's hungry he eats anything, even if it's not good quality.
  • That's where the contradiction is.
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6 Answers
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First of all, it's better to say "I eat pretty well".
This means that the speaker generally eats good quality food, but if he's hungry he eats anything, even if it's not good quality. That's where the contradiction is.
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Oh, okay. I thought if you eat pretty good, or pretty well, you eat a lot.

Figures he used "but" there. Thanks, JL!

Hiro
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Yes, it could mean you eat a lot, but from the context I deduced the other meaning.
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I agree. At first I thought it was "eat a lot" but the context suggests the writer means "eat healthy food." I think J Lewis has hit it on the head.
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I was thinking ... then, maybe if you say, "I exercised well (or, in colloqualism, exercised good)," could you mean both "I exercised a lot," and "I exercised in a good quality"?

Best,

Hiro
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That's not idiomatic - at least, not where I'm from. You'd say "I had a good workout today" or "I excersised hard today" (Hard = worked hard at it, with intensity)

If you want to say you work out a lot, you'd just say "I work out a lot." or "I enjoy getting a lot of exercise."
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