logoalt Hacker News

zarzavat • today at 6:39 AM • 2 replies • view on HN

Else doesn't sound archaic to my ears.

"When you go shopping make sure to buy flour or else we won't be able to bake the cake"

"otherwise" is a more common word choice but "else" is definitely in the active vocabulary of modern English speakers.


Replies

jolmg • today at 6:44 AM

"or else" is redundant. One can omit one word or the other and it still works.

> When you go shopping make sure to buy flour, or we won't be able to bake the cake.

> When you go shopping make sure to buy flour, else we won't be able to bake the cake.

EDIT: TIL: Dictionaries don't commonly define "else" as a conjunction, except for Wiktionary. Still sounds natural to my ears, so this is a surprise.

chrismorgan • today at 6:45 AM

That’s “or else”. Bare else is no longer common.

➕ show 1 reply