• gramie@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      ·
      11 months ago

      I never thought of each day including a completely new set of all the previous ones.

    • samus12345@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      11 months ago

      I always assumed it was just a recap. Why would you keep giving someone the same thing over and over?

      • Vash63@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        23
        ·
        11 months ago

        No, it’s pretty clear grammatically. “On the second day of Xmas my true love gave to me x AND y”. That doesn’t mean she got Y the day before.

        • MBM@lemmings.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          ·
          11 months ago

          Maybe the singer refuses the gift every time, so their true love keeps adding more

        • samus12345@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          11 months ago

          The “and” is always before the last item, the partridge in a pear tree, because it’s at the end of the items that are being listed off. The singer is saying what they got that day and then recapping what they now have in total.

          It can be interpreted the other way, of course, but I prefer this way because it just makes more sense. Hard enough to give someone 50 people compared to 140!