More weird sportscasterese ("More than enough")

[sagehen]

>Here's another one from sports broadcasting.  I'm not sure if this was
>brought up on the list a while back, so forgive me if so.
>
>It is the very common usage, esp. in basketball announcing (where the score
>can change so quickly), "within", as in "they have now got it to within one"
>(i.e., if the score is, say, 57-56).  Clearly, the score cannot be "within
>one".  Yet announcers, even those as experienced as Dick Enberg, use this
>often.  The usage can be with differences in score of more than one point,
>but it seems always to be used when the difference is actually the number of
>points stated after "within".  The usage is illogical, it seems to me, but
>it is out there.
>
>Frank Abate
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I see it as a carryover from matters involving distance or time,  in which
one can be within a single unit of measure.
A. Murie


A&M Murie
N. Bangor NY
sagehen at westelcom.com