My daughter would like to know the difference between just and only.  Her sentence was:
It is just a cloud.
It is only a cloud.
Anyone?

Add to that:

It is merely a cloud.
It is simply a cloud.
It is but a cloud.

Ilka

Yes, I think they mean exactly the same thing in this usage.
Now, if she’d said: "It is only just a cloud" ...

Grant

As it happens, two words can have some meanings in common, but not all.    Consider "just" and "only."  

The two words both mean "merely" in these two sentences…

"It’s just a cloud."
"It’s only a cloud."  

They can also indicate lack of accompaniment.

"He just smiled."   "He only smiled."  
"There’s just one of her."   "There’s only one of her."  

But "just" also indicates the very recent past much more often the "only" does.    In my dialect of English, these two sentences don’t mean the same thing:  

"She just buttoned her coat."  

"She only buttoned her coat."  

Jim

I definitely see some difference between the two, inasmuch as only is similar to (dare I?...) unique.  Just seems more like a term of diminishment.

Anyone know if/how this relates to just as in justice?

In any case, I told my daughter they mean the same thing.  She promptly asked, "Why are there two words that mean the same thing?"

She then provided her own answer: "Maybe first there was just only, and then they made the word just; and they didn’t get rid of only because people would get confused.  So now we have both words that mean the same thing."  :)

We’ve only just begun…

I had to do it!

;D

[quote author=tamisaac link=board=omni;num=1038105931;start=0#4 date=11/24/02 at 21:41:49]Anyone know if/how this relates to just as in justice?

Just originally indicated rightness or appropriateness of action, as in "He did it just so"; that made a connection with precision, as in "It happened just there"; and that sense of precision and uniqueness then makes the connection to the much diluted meaning of merely or only.

Grant

[quote author=rainchild link=board=omni;num=1038105931;start=0#3 date=11/24/02 at 21:28:51]In my dialect of English, these two sentences don’t mean the same thing:  

"She just buttoned her coat."  

"She only buttoned her coat."

You’re obviously aware , from your reference to "my dialect", that in other dialects they can mean the same thing.
In British English we’d generally say "She has just buttoned her coat."

Grant

This looks like a topic that could run for a while.

From my point of view:

She just buttoned her coat

Possible meanings:

1.  She buttoned her coat and did nothing else.  Arguably equivalent to She only buttoned her coat.

2.  She buttoned her coat but was close to failing to achieve this action.  (She only just buttoned her coat)

She has just buttoned her coat

Meanings 1 and 2 above plus

3.  She buttoned her coat within a short time of this statement being made.

If one starts to consider the nuances of meaning that this sentence can be given by selectively applying emphasis to she, has, just, buttoned and/or coat one realises that we have only just scratched the surface of this topic.