I'm to [sic] (too) cheap to go to the doctor

[thedaffodils]

Hi!

The following words in Italic are excerpted from an email of an American friend of mine. I am not sure I exactly understood "too cheap to go to the doctor". (to [sic]). Does it mean he doesn't want to see a doctor in order to save money? I've looked up some dictionary, but I didn't find a suitable entry for it.


Mary and I have been battling respiratory problems, she ended up with bronchitis and went to the doctor, I'm not sure what I have, but I'm to cheap to go to the doctor. If it gets worse I'll go, but I think I'm getting better. It's almost been a month since I first came down with it.


Thank you!

 

[MikeNewYork]

Hi!

The following words in Italic are excerpted from an email of an American friend of mine. I am not sure I exactly understood "too cheap to go to the doctor". (to [sic]). Does it mean he doesn't want to see a doctor in order to save money? I've looked up some dictionary, but I didn't find a suitable entry for it.


Mary and I have been battling respiratory problems, she ended up with bronchitis and went to the doctor, I'm not sure what I have, but I'm to cheap to go to the doctor. If it gets worse I'll go, but I think I'm getting better. It's almost been a month since I first came down with it.


Thank you!

Yes, to save money.

 

[JMurray]

not a teacher


I've looked up some dictionaries, but I didn't find a suitable entry for it.

Definition #3: cheap - definition. American English definition of cheap by Macmillan Dictionary

 

[thedaffodils]

Thank you very much, JMurray.

I mean I referred to an unspecified dictionary, so I used "some". Why is it wrong? Please advise.

Full Definition of SOME

1
: being an unknown, undetermined, or unspecified unit or thing <some person knocked>

 

[JMurray]

not a teacher

I mean I referred to an unspecified dictionary, so I used "some". Why is it wrong?

Strictly speaking it's not wrong. However, the use of "some" in this way often makes the point that you are vague about which dictionary it was, perhaps you don't know or never knew it's title, for example. I'm not sure that this is what you meant.

To simply say that you have looked at one dictionary, I would more often expect "I looked up a/one dictionary and…", or something similar.

I also made the wrong assumption that you had looked up more that one dictionary when trying to find a definition.

This is a subtle point and someone might explain it better, or disagree with me.

 

[thedaffodils]

Thank you very much for your reply.

There are a few reasons that I used some.

- I didn't exactly remember the name of that online dictionary at that time. I just looked it up. It is the Free Online Dictionary.
- I was not sure whether or not the respondents required to know the name of the dictionary.
- Some dictionary is shorter than the full names i.e. the Free Online Dictinary, or Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, etc.

 

[bhaisahab]

Thank you very much for your reply.

There are a few reasons that I used some.

- I didn't exactly remember the name of that online dictionary at that time. I just looked it up. It is the Free Online Dictionary.
- I was not sure whether or not the respondents required to know the name of the dictionary.
- Some dictionary is shorter than the full names i.e. the Free Online Dictinary, or Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, etc.

In that case just say "a dictionary".

 

[Tdol]

I'd say I looked it up in a dictionary. Some dictionary sounds a bit dismissive.