consider, v.i.

[Dan Goncharoff]

Fells like a twist on considering:

"A pretty good day, considering."

DanG


On Wed, Nov 9, 2011 at 1:22 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      consider, v.i.
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>
> OED 5a ("to think deliberately, bethink oneself, reflect") needs a
> tweak to cover the rather recent nuance exemplified in a current TV
> commercial.
>
> "A pretty good day - when you consider!"  (Viz., consider that you
> narrowly avoided killing yourself.)
>
> I'd add the whole phrase: "_when you consider_, colloq. when you
> reflect on other possible outcomes."
>
> Undoubtedly a truncation of "when you consider it."
>
> It seems impossible to Google the intransitive phrase successfully:
> exx. with complementary phrases seem unfilterable.
>
> I'd be surprised if it's more than fifty or sixty years old, at least in
> print.
>
> JL
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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