Does the following sentence mean I prefer to go home, or something is just as fine as something else?
I'd just as soon go home.
Does this other sentence mean that either thing is good?
I'd just as soon go home as to go to party.
Learn English – I’d just as soon…as to
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Best Answer
It can also be used to indicate that both options are negative, for example:
In this case, the respondent is using a situation which is clearly unpleasant (being eaten by wolves) to indicate that they don't want to go to a party. It should usually be easy to tell this is the intended meaning due to the hyperbole involved.
However, in your example:
The speaker may be indicating that whilst they don't necessarily want to go home, their preference (or lack of preference) for this is near-equal to that for going to a party. In this case, you would have to look at the wider context to understand the intended meaning.
I don't think I've ever heard it used differently to this (implying negativity), but this might just be unique to the British English I'm familiar with.