Joe Fineman filted: It always seemed to me that it would be more properly written "small-scaled", but that's another discussion. "Small-scale" is the noun phrase "small scale" used attributively (cf.

It always seemed to me that it would be more properly written "small-scaled", but that's another discussion. "Small-scale" is the noun phrase "small scale" used attributively (cf. "high-speed").

Donna Richoux redled: If you must have a parallel to "I could care less," maybe you could look in the direction of "I ... could give a damn" mean the same thing except for mild sarcasm? (Or, from a missing "like" or

"Lousy with" is ordinary English, maybe a bit rare these days. This evidence points to the right explanation. Forty years ago I lived just north of New York for four years. I was fourteen when we moved back to Denmark. That should

EXACTLY what I said! "Going it alone", in the FIGURATIVE ... his defending himself. THAT'S the TRUE meaning of the phrase! There isn't any literal sense to an idiom. That's the very definition of idiomatic expression. Of

"I don't need your help. I'll go it alone." Whereupon ... people is irrelevant to whether someone is "going it alone." EXACTLY what I said! "Going it alone", in the FIGURATIVE sense, has nothing to do with

If "I could care less" is gibberish, It isn't. It's a well-constructed English sentence whose meaning can be understood from the meaning of each of its words. If the amount that I care about something is more than zero, then

How in hell does it do that? Are you saying ... meaning "I don't care"? Perhaps you think "I could care Actually, no. I don't think it is analyzable word-for-word nor, for that matter, do I believe that "I couldn't

The negative polarity of "less" would allow "-n't" to drop ... the exact same negative sense as "I couldn't care less" How in hell does it do that? Are you saying that you can somehow interpret "I could

I heard the following idiom mentioned in a broadcast on Margaret Thatcer - an expression the Americans should have found extremely British. She used it when she spoke to president Reagan. Unfortunately, I can't even find it in the OED. ...