Expressions with Number Variation

[Laurence Horn]

Well, back in the old days, you could be behind someone 100 per cent, or you could give 100 per cent, and that was it.  Now, it seems wishy-washy unless you give 110 per cent or you're behind them 1000 per cent.  Inflation again.  I'm not sure it ever goes in the other direction.

LH


On Sep 13, 2012, at 6:40 PM, Dave Wilton wrote:

> There's "Eskimos have ## words for snow." Lots of variability in that one.
>
> There's also "seventh heaven" and "third heaven," although these derive from
> different theological concepts rather than linguistic variability, the seven
> from Judaism and Islam, and the three from Paul's vision of three heavens.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Shapiro, Fred
> Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 5:00 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Expressions with Number Variation
>
> In connection with the discovery that the original formulation of "the whole
> nine yards" may well have been "the whole six yards," Dave Wilton has
> pointed out that "there are many examples of phrases with numbers that went
> through multiple versions with different numerical values before settling on
> the one that became canonical (e.g., 'cloud nine')."  Can Dave or anyone
> else give me other examples of this kind of number variation?
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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