Is it “just as soon” or “just assume”?

Question

If someone says a phrase that sounds like "I'd just as soon you don't get in an accident, so I'll call you later", are they actually saying "just as soon" or "just assume" or something else?

Answer 1

It's "I'd just as soon" and it means, in expanded form, "I would just as soon have it that [something be true] as that [something else be true]. It is making a comparison between the benefits of something happening one way versus another, and stating a preference regarding the outcome.

Examples:

I'd just as soon eat live cockroaches as go see another movie about vampires.

Here the person is stating a distaste for vampire movies. He would as soon, or as eagerly, eat live cockroaches than watch one.

I'd just as soon you spoke to Bill before telling Marie about this.

Here the person believes Bill needs to know something before Marie finds out about it. There is only an implied comparison here, between telling Bill first and not.

Answer 2

"Just as soon", meaning something very like "I would sooner you don't...", but with the preference left up to the listener. It's a kind of "I can take it or leave it, but, well, leaving it would be easier for me -- still, it's your decision" idea; the speaker's desire is obvious, but not being pressed.

Answer 3

I'll ignore the 'actually saying' deliberately. They say what they say, after all. Rather I speak about what they may mean.

Never heard or seen it. But it reminds me of ”I'd rather you go away“, which perplexes me as a non-native speaker time and again.

So, my vote is 'I prefer you don't get in an accident'. The phrase may be a blending of ”I'd rather“ and ”I assume“.

My 2 Euro cents.

Answer 4

Simply put, "I would just as soon [do one thing] as [do something else]" indicates that there is no preference one way or the other.

"I would sooner [do something] than [do something else]", on the other hand, indicates a preference.

The expression "I would just assume you do/don't do something" makes no sense, nor would the expression "I would just as soon you do/don't do something".