"or so"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Me, I would take "or so" to mean "approximately" with no further content.

Is any more specific meaning presented in any of the standard
references? At my brief glance, it seems "or so" = "approximately"
wherever I find it defined (e.g., MW3, MW Collegiate, a couple of random
usage books).

For those who would take "X or so" to mean more specifically "X or a
little more", would the restriction apply only to integers? E.g., would
"98.6 or so" also imply "more than 98.6"? What about "in early August or
so" or "in the middle or so"?

The more specific sense of "or so" was heretofore entirely unsuspected
by me. But it would be hard to distinguish, in general use, right?

This more specific usage matches how I would expect "-odd" to be used
(e.g., "a hundred-odd" = "a hundred and [probably] a few more").

-- Doug Wilson

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