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"Whether you're buying by the bottle or by case, shopping for wine is easy a BC Wineguys."

Is buying by the bottle just one bottle or any quantity of bottles as long at is not in a case or any quantity of bottles as long as it's less than the number of bottles in a case?

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  • By the bottle is one bottle at a time. You could buy several bottles, one at a time, but you'd pay the per bottle price. By the case is buying a container of some number of bottles. In which case (see what I did there?), you'd presumably get a quantity discount. – deadrat Feb 4 '17 at 21:16
  • If you don't buy in multiples of 6 (a half-case), you have to buy 'by the bottle'. – Edwin Ashworth Feb 4 '17 at 21:17
  • Buying "by the bottle" is as opposed to "buying by the barrel", "by the case", "by the glass" etc. – WS2 Feb 4 '17 at 22:04
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In the given context, by the bottle means you're buying less bottles than the quantity of bottles in a case.

Of course, technically, if a case has 12 bottles and you want to buy 15 bottles, you have to also buy "by the bottle". But what they are trying to say is that they make shopping easy for you, no matter what the size of your purchase is: less than a case, or one or more cases.

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  • Thank, I'm more interested in the technical side of the story. If I buy 15 bottles it would mean I'm buying by the bottle i.e. by the bottle doesn't mean buying just one bottle. – Marina Dunst Feb 4 '17 at 21:32
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    It's an advertisement; there is no technical side. To answer your question, we would need to see their price list. In any case, buying by the bottle does not mean buying just one bottle; it means your purchase quantity is measured in units of bottle, – michael.hor257k Feb 4 '17 at 21:34
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    @MarinaDunst Yes, "by the bottle" can mean any number of bottles, or just one. The idiom "by the...* merely specifies the unit by which you are counting something. If you sit down in a restaurant you can buy wine "by the glass" or "by the bottle". – WS2 Feb 4 '17 at 22:07

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