Definitions
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- adverb UK, slang
Greatly ; to a considerable extent.
Etymologies
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Examples
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madmouth commented on the word not half
a lot, e.g. "Your breath doesn't half stink"
May 4, 2009
rolig commented on the word not half
Actually, I would take this to mean "your breath smells quite nice."
"not half" means "a fair amount of whatever is opposite": "You know, your singing's not half bad" = "You sing rather well." Usually, I think, "not half" is used in a compliment, i.e. with a quality that is considered negative. It is a form of understatement and suggests the speaker's mock surprise at discovering some positive quality in a person. "You know, you're not half dumb." = I'm surprised to discover that you are really rather smart.
I associate this expression in particular with the screwball comedies of the 1930s and 1940s. It's the kind of thing Jean Harlow or Carole Lombard would say.
May 4, 2009
yarb commented on the word not half
In my experience it means "a lot". "Your singing's not half bad" means your singing is terrible. It's not half bad, it's all bad!
The idiom can also stand alone as a (slightly old fashioned) term of strong agreement. E.g.
- "Awful weather we're having, isn't it?"
- "Not half!" (i.e. entirely so)
I strongly suspect this is a US/UK difference. I can't be sure though, because I've barely heard it at all since I left the UK five years ago.
May 5, 2009
yarb commented on the word not half
Compare senses 23 (a) and (b) here.
May 5, 2009
garyth123 commented on the word not half
Alan Freeman.
May 5, 2009
yarb commented on the word not half
Not arf!
May 5, 2009
rolig commented on the word not half
Interesting, yarb. The Oxford American says of the expression "not half":
1. not nearly: he is not half such a fool as they thought. which I take to mean he is not the fool they thought he was
2. INFORMAL not at all: the players are not half bad. which I take to mean the players are very good
I suspect that you are right that this is a US/Brit distinction (not sure where Canada falls in this).
May 5, 2009
yarb commented on the word not half
It's interesting because it makes the idiom properly contronymic.
May 5, 2009
fbharjo commented on the word not half
What's the line from "Yesterday"? "not half the man I used to be" What sense does this lyric have?...............
Yesterday,
All my troubles seemed so far away,
Now it looks as though they're here to stay,
Oh, I believe in yesterday.
Suddenly,
I'm not half the man I used to be,
There's a shadow hanging over me,
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.
Why she
Had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said,
Something wrong, now I long for yesterday.
Yesterday,
Love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away,
Oh, I believe in yesterday.
Why she
Had to go I don't know, she wouldn't say.
I said,
Something wrong, now I long for yesterday.
Yesterday,
Love was such an easy game to play,
Now I need a place to hide away,
Oh, I believe in yesterday.
May 5, 2009
rolig commented on the word not half
"Suddenly / I'm not half the man I used to be" = "I am not at all the person used to be" = "I am a completely different person."
May 5, 2009
yarb commented on the word not half
Of course Macca's not saying that since "she" went away, he's very much the same man as before (at least I hope not)! The lyric illustrates a distinction: while "not half" means "very" (in BrE) when modifying an adjective, it means "less than half" when applied to a noun. But even then it's not clear-cut.
For example, you might say of a tireless footballer "he isn't half a worker" (i.e. he's very much a worker - he works extremely hard), but at the same time he might be "not half the worker he was" (i.e. less than half as indefatigable as he was) or "not half as hard a worker as that other player" (i.e. inferior).
May 5, 2009
dontcry commented on the word not half
I think: "I'm not half the man I used to be" means he's somewhat diminished from his past self -- is disappointed in himself about something.
I think "not half bad" is a bit of a back-handed compliment. It means you're better than I thought, but there's room for improvement. I don't think it means very good or great.
"Half-assed" on the other hand....
May 5, 2009
gangerh commented on the word not half
Suddenly, without her I am not complete . . .
May 5, 2009
gangerh commented on the word not half
Here if you want to emphatically agree with something someone has said, you might say "Not half!". You would mean "Totally! I agree!".
May 5, 2009
yarb commented on the word not half
Right, g - like Alan "Fluff" Freeman, cited by garyth below.
May 5, 2009
gangerh commented on the word not half
Absolutely,yarb!
May 5, 2009
rolig commented on the word not half
How do you Brits keep all your halves sorted? And are we supposed to know who Alan Freeman is? Is he fluffy? A fluffer?
May 5, 2009
madmouth commented on the word not half
It's in Quaint Turns of Phrase because the British meaning is way quainter (to my non-British self) than our boring 'not half bad'. Though of course 'not arf' is best of all.
May 5, 2009
bilby commented on the word not half
I'll 'ave 'arf.
May 5, 2009
gangerh commented on the word not half
We don't have to keep our halves sorted in this concept, 'ligger. Because it's not half!
I guess it's an easier way of saying 'not a quarter' or 'not nine sixteenths'. What we're saying is 'not partly', ie 'totally'.
Also we might say 'and some' if we agree with you even more.
May 5, 2009