'looks like'

[Douglas G. Wilson]

> .... "Dill says of Boo Radley, musing on his reclusiveness, "Looks like he'd
> stick his head out the door some time".  I *think* I've met this use =
> (which
> I can only make sense of by "translating" as "You'd think that...") a
> handful of times since, ie over a period of getting on for 30 years
> since I read the book, but I can't remember any specifics."
>
> I agree that, in context, it looks like you have to read it as 'You'd =
> think
> he'd stick his head out', rather than 'It looks like he would stick his
> head out sometimes', the context can be found at the bottom of page 12 =
> on
> this pdf version:
>
> photo.goodreads.com/documents/1239291793books/2660.pdf
>
> Is this a known use of 'looks like', or do we have to read the 'some =
> time'
> as 'sometimes' in spite of the contextual evidence?
--

I suppose this "[it] looks like ..." is about the same as more frequent
"[it] seems like ..." in the same context. (I myself [a Northron] might
use this "seems like" ... but not this "looks like".) Examples of both
can be found (e.g.) at G-books (I used phrase <<looks like he would>>
etc. IIRC).

"Sometime" = "sometimes" is a recognized variant, I think. I see it in
the "Smoky Mountain English" dictionary, and I've heard it myself
(outside the Smokies). I don't know offhand exactly how one should
interpret the above "some time".

-- Doug Wilson

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