Northall, " Folk-phrases of Four Counties (Glouc., Staff., Warw. For example: I'll get there at nine, as near as makes no odds, i.e., so near that it makes no difference. Either is equivalent to give or take a bit. The origin of the phrase is as near as 'damn it' is to swearing.Īs near as makes no odds Inf. Or, Can we make it in two hours? As near as dammit. Almost exactly give or take a bit very close! We'll get there at seven, as near as dammit. Here is that reference work's treatment of the relevant expressions:Īs near as dammit Inf. Two other very similar expressions are "as near as makes no odds" and "as near as makes no matter," both of which appear in Norman Schur, British English from A to Zed: A Definitive Guide to the Queen's English, second edition (2013)-which JOSH quotes in his answer. The cloth is five times longer or as near as makes no difference. that is not significantly less or more It is going to cost Rs. Vijay Kumar, Sterling Dictionary of Idioms (1998) reports that "as near as dammit" and "as near as makes no difference" are variant expressions of the same idea:Īs near as dammit as near as makes no difference an amount, a measurement, etc. #Dammit bobby listen zelda how to#I'm limited to a phone and don't know how to link, sorry. I'm very interested in how "dammit" came to mean, in effect, exact, or lacking that, how the phrase came to mean "as close to exactly". the optative expletive use likely is as old. The Latin word evolved a legal meaning of "pronounce judgment upon." Theological sense is first recorded early 14c. Late 13c., "to condemn," from Old French damner "damn, condemn convict, blame injure," derivative of Latin damnare "to adjudge guilty to doom to condemn, blame, reject," from noun damnum "damage, hurt, harm loss, injury a fine, penalty," from Proto-Italic *dapno-, possibly from an ancient religious term from PIE *dap- "to apportion in exchange". The Online Etymology Dictionary gave the usual definition of damn: Looking it up, all the dictionaries gave the same meaning, but no explanation. I was confused enough to listen again, and had heard it correctly.įrom the context, the meaning was clear: very nearly exactly. Listening to an interview (BBC, so British English), I heard an author describe an actress's performance "as near as dammit" to the novel's character.
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