Hi chaps (and ladies) A couple of observations on the above comments. I'm English
re cats & dogs There are no skunks in Britain so 17th C gents wouldn't keep them as pets
re bees knees I was always told it was an extrapolation of business. Here, when something is 'the business' it is perfect for the job or task.
re dead ringer a ringer is an imposter. A very old saying but used quite a lot in my youth at greyhound racing where one dog would run trials, get a handicap for a race, then a similar looking dog would be run in it's place. Similar = ringer, dead ringer = almost exactly the same.
So can anyone explain why in the English language, we misuse the words near and nearly??
I nearly won the lottery (I didn't win) 2 aircraft were in a near miss (they missed) Obama nearly lost (he won) He nearly scored from that penalty (he didn't score) Yellowstone hyper multi mega super volcano nearly didn't go off in 2009 (etc)
A couple of observations on the above comments. I'm English
re cats & dogs
There are no skunks in Britain so 17th C gents wouldn't keep them as pets
re bees knees
I was always told it was an extrapolation of business. Here, when something is 'the business' it is perfect for the job or task.
re dead ringer
a ringer is an imposter. A very old saying but used quite a lot in my youth at greyhound racing where one dog would run trials, get a handicap for a race, then a similar looking dog would be run in it's place. Similar = ringer, dead ringer = almost exactly the same.
So can anyone explain why in the English language, we misuse the words near and nearly??
I nearly won the lottery (I didn't win)
2 aircraft were in a near miss (they missed)
Obama nearly lost (he won)
He nearly scored from that penalty (he didn't score)
Yellowstone hyper multi mega super volcano nearly didn't go off in 2009 (etc)
HNYr from UK