strong enough = 'able'

[Jonathan Lighter]

NPR had a story this evening about convicted murderers who recently put on a
production of _Hamlet_ in the big house.  One of the actors, who'd studied
the play closely, laughed at the idea that the possible untrustworthiness of
ghosts might have given Hamlet some reason to delay in knocking off
Claudius.

"'Cause if you strong enough to believe in ghos', you strong enough to
believe what ghos' say!"

At first glance, this use of _strong enough_ might seem perfectly ordinary,
but while it might conceivably take some sort of "strength" (i.e., courage
of conviction) to believe in ghosts, it would not then take any special
strength to believe in what they say.

My impression is that this kind of "strong enough" means no more than
"able."

I've encountered this usage (in print, I'm ptretty sure) once or twice
before over the years (maybe since the '70s). It might be prison slang, or
it might be AAVE.

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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