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question for native english speakers

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joost_v

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i read the expression 'little short of stunning' somewhere, but i wonder:

if you say 'this is little short of stunning', does this mean it is very good, or very bad, or average?

please explain it to me
 
It means literally it is not quite stunning but colloquially this in fact means it is v good.
joost_v said:
i read the expression 'little short of stunning' somewhere, but i
wonder:

if you say 'this is little short of stunning', does this mean it is
very good, or very bad, or average?

please explain it to me
Click to expand...
 
joost_v said:
i read the expression 'little short of stunning' somewhere, but i
wonder:

if you say 'this is little short of stunning', does this mean it is
very good, or very bad, or average?

please explain it to me
Click to expand...
It could depend on the context. As the previous poster said, taken literally it would mean not quite stunning, but getting close. Just as likely it might have been a "polite" way of saying that whatever was being referred to wasn't as good as it could be.

--
Tom Young
http://www.pbase.com/tyoung/
 
joost_v said:
i read the expression 'little short of stunning' somewhere, but i
wonder:

if you say 'this is little short of stunning', does this mean it is
very good, or very bad, or average?

please explain it to me
Click to expand...
Joost_v,

Idioms and colloquialisms are difficult to understand by nonnative speakers of the English language even if they have a good grasp of it. They can also get you in trouble if not used in the proper context. For example, I could comment to a friend about someone by saying “she’s dressed to kill” but if I told the same lady that her gown was elegant, it would be inappropriate for her to respond with “Thanks, I dressed to kill”.

An old girlfriend of mine was a nonnative speaker but had an excellent understanding of the English language. I gave her a book on clichés, colloquialisms and idioms and she couldn’t put it down.

Take a look at this page for a couple of examples concerning your question. After looking at those, you might want to click on “idioms” for many more if you find them as interesting as she did.

http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery ;jsessionid=ow5eu8p56vsh?s=little+short+of&sbid=lc02b

By the way, the site above is worth bookmarking. I've found it to be a helpful resource for many subjects.

Regards,
Robert

--


Nothing more completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity, than straightforward and simple integrity in another - Charles Cales Colton
 
This phrase used in this context is a "tongue-in-cheek" reply that suggests that it isn't the best....aka: "A lttle short of STERLING" as used by the Brits implying that it's not the best. Many phrases in the English language are actually used in reverse of the intent, perhaps a polite way of telling someone that their "whatever" is not very good without being rude!
--

If your being run out of town, get in front of the crowd and make like it's a parade

http://bill-force.fotopic.net
 
Bill Force said:
This phrase used in this context is a "tongue-in-cheek" reply that
suggests that it isn't the best....aka: "A lttle short of
STERLING" as used by the Brits implying that it's not the best.
Many phrases in the English language are actually used in reverse
of the intent, perhaps a polite way of telling someone that their
"whatever" is not very good without being rude!
Click to expand...
On our wedding day, my husband told me that I 'looked stunning'. I will never forget those words. Can you imagine my reaction if he told me that I was 'just short of stunning'?
--
Theresa Kelly
http://theresak.smugmug.com/

 
I believe that there is a significant difference between "a little short of stunning", which inclines toward the put-down, and "little short of stunning", which implies that it is, indeed, superb.
--
Garry
 
Garry Schaefer said:
I believe that there is a significant difference between "a little
short of stunning", which inclines toward the put-down, and "little
short of stunning", which implies that it is, indeed, superb.
Click to expand...
Exactly. "A little short if..." emphasizes the gap between where you are and what you compare to.

"Little short of ..." has the opposite meaning, emphasizing the similarity and asserting that whatever difference exists is insignificant.

It is also worth noting that there isn't one canonical set of set expressions in the English language. Native speakers of one dialect can have the same trouble as non-native speakers when expressions originating in another are encountered.

--
http://lucs.lu.se/people/jan.moren/log/current.html
 
There is a thing in English known as understatement.
So if we say something like 'its not half bad' we mean 'its very good'
In the same way if we say 'its little short of stunning' then we mean
that 'it is stunning'. We don't mean 'its not quite stunning'. However if we
said 'its A little short of stunning' then we could mean 'its not stunning' or
even 'its very ordinary'.
If you want to be safe either say 'its stunning' or 'its not stunning'. There
is no danger of making a mistake then.
Hope this helps.
 
Then you throw in the area semi-dialects.

These are all pejorative in increasing order:

"She's a smidgen short of stunning..."
"She's a tad short of stunning..."
"She's a mite short of stunning..."

But "She's a number ten can full of stunning" is a good thing.

--
RDKirk
'TANSTAAFL: The only unbreakable rule in photography.'
 
In the "just short of stunning" film: "The Great Race" with Tony Curtiss and Jack Lemmon, there is a scene in an Old West saloon:

A visiting woman asks a local one: "Are you a native here?" The other responds: "I ain't no native, honey! I was born here!"
 
thank you
Garry Schaefer said:
I believe that there is a significant difference between "a little
short of stunning", which inclines toward the put-down, and "little
short of stunning", which implies that it is, indeed, superb.
Click to expand...
i read it in a review about a selphy photo printer

it said 'Print quality is little short of stunning'

now i'm sure which printer to buy :)
 
First thing to point out here is that the Americans cannot reply to this thread, as they don't speak English...

Little short of stunning, means EXACTLY what it says.
It's ALMOST stunning, but not quite.

Without the context of where it was used, it's hard to tell if it's been used well, or badly, sorry.
 
but the sentence:

"the jewel was little short of stunning" is not even correct English? You can't say that! =)
 
Sorry Tim, like most idioms, it doesn't mean exactly what it says. It means no difference between it and stunning. An immeasurable difference between it and stunning. So close to stunning it is stunning.

Not 'a little' but 'little'. Little difference means same as.

Ray Kinnane
Saga-shi, Japan
 
Bill Force said:
This phrase used in this context is a "tongue-in-cheek" reply that
suggests that it isn't the best....aka: "A lttle short of
STERLING" as used by the Brits implying that it's not the best.
Many phrases in the English language are actually used in reverse
of the intent, perhaps a polite way of telling someone that their
"whatever" is not very good without being rude!
Click to expand...
I've never heard the expression "a little short of Sterling" used in Britain.

"little short of stunning" means "stunning" for all intents and purposes.

It seems that Americans are not really understanding English again...

--
Seb
 
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