What do words mean? A question that has haunted humanity since at least 1903, if not later.
“I want nothing more” are interesting words in that they could be interpreted in so many ways, even if most of the time they’re not. It gives them great potential for innuendo I would imagine
First off, the one most people would probably think of when they hear “I want nothing more” is that it is a succinct way to say “this is the thing I want the most right now”. However we can spin this off into several other interpretations. A second one could be “I want this and specifically this, do not go beyond it”, or a third, humbly, “I want this but expect nothing on top of it”. And, of course, these can all be expressed sarcastically, as “nothing” makes for good hyperbole, I would argue. “I really do not want this”, “This is nowhere near enough” and “you could definitely do more” respectively.
There’s also fun to be had regarding how we use the word nothing here. For one “I want nothing more” could be cynically read as “I would prefer nothing were happening/given compared to what is” or, more specifically “Can we not do this?”.
Finally, if we dip back into one of my favourite shakespeare plays, “Much Ado About Nothing”, we get another couple definitions of “Nothing to work with”, first of which being Nothing, the absence of substance, so “I want nothing more” could be yearning for rumours not to ruin the simple life that you currently have. There’s also the “Nothing” as “Noting”, or “gossip”, so “I want there to be more speculation”, and the similiar (put here in case they’re etemologically related, not so much because it’s in Much Ado, but they also might not be) “Nothing” from “Whisper Me Sweet Nothings”, so “I want us to pivot more into romantic small talk”.
Finally, as you may remember if you ever studied this in school and had a similarly juvenile mind to my own, “Nothing” in Much Ado About Nothing” may well have been a 1st Elizibethan genital euphemism, with “thing” as a euphemism for the member just about making it into modern day english but “nothing” as a euphemism for the lack of tackle very much not so outside of this play. So, to bite the bullet, “I want nothing more” could be the words of someone, offered the choice of a small handful of options, deciding that while there are several they like, vagina is the most preferable. You’re free to fill in as many or as little details around that one as you like.
Anyway, thanks for reading my silly little article on a phrase I started thinking about that seemed interestingly ambiguous.
-Matt