Quote Originally Posted by grafrich View Post
"not like, but more" changes to "not like, but less".
In which case, how do you know which meaning it takes in any given sentence? Is it confusing to Russians as well?
It is not confusing for russians. It is context. But it is hard to me to extract exact rules from "intuitive knowledge of native language".
I think if it used with adjective - it is "less". "Вы еще не так стары" = "You are not so old".
If it is used with verb - is is "more". "Мы еще не так сыграем (в футбол)" = "We will play (not like this, but harder) next time".
Maybe I am wrong, but I do not remember exceptions with this kind of rule.
P.S.
With verb it is enforced verb meaning. If playing was bad it means by context "we will play more bad". If playing was good it means "we will play more good".