What does the phrase “Four pounds if he’s an ounce” mean?

One of my favorite questions is ‘he’s

  • 6 feet tall if he’s an inch’ and this is the answer.

4 answers In The Thirty-Nine Steps Sir Walter is describing a fish and says: “Look at that big fellow. Is two pounds more effective than one pound? I’ve heard similar phrases before but never understood what is being said beyond the emphasis of size. I’m in my late 30s. I don’t remember any of the words in my textbook.

Is this sentence and you are correct to believe it is a contraction of an older phrase? How might you explain the origin of this poem.

Asked on December 20, 2021 in Meaning.
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23 Answer(s)

The purpose of idiomatic logic bomb is to establish a fervent belief in the truth of the statement at hand.

the unreality of falsity emphasizes and gives validity to the subjective “truth” that you are trying to put across in your statement. How


can I be the person who said, “Hey, nice catch!”? Since that child is 7 days old, what really makes us feel 3 pounds on average? What

is that 3 pounds of Weight?” If a two-pound male looks like this — at four pound if he is an ounce — he is a beast. Look at this guy. Yes

you made a statement to emphasize the surety of your estimate. What happened?


The comparison between a false and a true concept is that the whole information is false.The example will be used again and again.

If a man is sixty years old, he is sixty years old if he would die a single day. I

am a faery queen, “. It could be said similarly

to “If she’s a virgin” ”

Hence, the unreality of the falsity emphasizes and gives validity to the subjective reality that you are trying to put across in your statement.

What do you think about my new book “The Great Ghost stories”?

Answered on December 20, 2021.
Add Comment

The purpose of idiomatic logic bomb is to establish a fervent belief in the truth of the statement at hand.

the unreality of falsity emphasizes and gives validity to the subjective “truth” that you are trying to put across in your statement. How


can I be the person who said, “Hey, nice catch!”? Since that child is 7 days old, what really makes us feel 3 pounds on average? What

is that 3 pounds of Weight?” If a two-pound male looks like this — at four pound if he is an ounce — he is a beast. Look at this guy. Yes

you made a statement to emphasize the surety of your estimate. What happened?


The comparison between a false and a true concept is that the whole information is false.The example will be used again and again.

If a man is sixty years old, he is sixty years old if he would die a single day. I

am a faery queen, “. It could be said similarly

to “If she’s a virgin” ”

Hence, the unreality of the falsity emphasizes and gives validity to the subjective reality that you are trying to put across in your statement.

What do you think about my new book “The Great Ghost stories”?

Answered on December 20, 2021.
Add Comment

What is ellipsis at beginning of the sentence (John Lawler tells us that this is conversational deletion): he is

four pounds if he’s an ounce.

Otherwise this is a perfectly ordinary conditional, described this way in Chapter 10, ‘Rhetorical Conditionals’, of Renaat Declerck and Susan Reed, Inc., 2001, p.345. (And their terminology rests on the stock formula for conditionals such as, “If p, then q”).

In such examples (in which both clauses typically use an indication measure, amount, number, etc.), the function of the if -clause is to emphasize that there is no doubt whatever whatever that the Q-clause is true. This type has much in common with direct inferential, since it expresses ‘P is patently true, hence Q must be true too.’ There is no real premise to the if clause. it usually follows the Q clause (whereas premise-expressing P clauses seldom do). Rather than being the P-clause the if clause is a purely rhetorical device to emphasize the truth of the q-clause.

The fish clearly qualifies as being at least an ounce; argal, my assertion that he weighs four pounds is clearly true.

Answered on December 20, 2021.
Add Comment

The purpose of idiomatic logic bomb is to establish a fervent belief in the truth of the statement at hand.

the unreality of falsity emphasizes and gives validity to the subjective “truth” that you are trying to put across in your statement. How


can I be the person who said, “Hey, nice catch!”? Since that child is 7 days old, what really makes us feel 3 pounds on average? What

is that 3 pounds of Weight?” If a two-pound male looks like this — at four pound if he is an ounce — he is a beast. Look at this guy. Yes

you made a statement to emphasize the surety of your estimate. What happened?


The comparison between a false and a true concept is that the whole information is false.The example will be used again and again.

If a man is sixty years old, he is sixty years old if he would die a single day. I

am a faery queen, “. It could be said similarly

to “If she’s a virgin” ”

Hence, the unreality of the falsity emphasizes and gives validity to the subjective reality that you are trying to put across in your statement.

What do you think about my new book “The Great Ghost stories”?

Answered on December 20, 2021.
Add Comment

The purpose of idiomatic logic bomb is to establish a fervent belief in the truth of the statement at hand.

the unreality of falsity emphasizes and gives validity to the subjective “truth” that you are trying to put across in your statement. How


can I be the person who said, “Hey, nice catch!”? Since that child is 7 days old, what really makes us feel 3 pounds on average? What

is that 3 pounds of Weight?” If a two-pound male looks like this — at four pound if he is an ounce — he is a beast. Look at this guy. Yes

you made a statement to emphasize the surety of your estimate. What happened?


The comparison between a false and a true concept is that the whole information is false.The example will be used again and again.

If a man is sixty years old, he is sixty years old if he would die a single day. I

am a faery queen, “. It could be said similarly

to “If she’s a virgin” ”

Hence, the unreality of the falsity emphasizes and gives validity to the subjective reality that you are trying to put across in your statement.

What do you think about my new book “The Great Ghost stories”?

Answered on December 20, 2021.
Add Comment

I can’t guess, I’ve never looked into this funny expression. The elliptic formula is not perfect. Even the small print will ruin your calculations. I guess that fellow

  • weighs at least four pounds. Is it true he’s lacking an ounce or two?

I am completely wrong. I am curious what natives

would say in an interview.

Answered on December 20, 2021.
Add Comment

The purpose of idiomatic logic bomb is to establish a fervent belief in the truth of the statement at hand.

the unreality of falsity emphasizes and gives validity to the subjective “truth” that you are trying to put across in your statement. How


can I be the person who said, “Hey, nice catch!”? Since that child is 7 days old, what really makes us feel 3 pounds on average? What

is that 3 pounds of Weight?” If a two-pound male looks like this — at four pound if he is an ounce — he is a beast. Look at this guy. Yes

you made a statement to emphasize the surety of your estimate. What happened?


The comparison between a false and a true concept is that the whole information is false.The example will be used again and again.

If a man is sixty years old, he is sixty years old if he would die a single day. I

am a faery queen, “. It could be said similarly

to “If she’s a virgin” ”

Hence, the unreality of the falsity emphasizes and gives validity to the subjective reality that you are trying to put across in your statement.

What do you think about my new book “The Great Ghost stories”?

Answered on December 20, 2021.
Add Comment

The purpose of idiomatic logic bomb is to establish a fervent belief in the truth of the statement at hand.

the unreality of falsity emphasizes and gives validity to the subjective “truth” that you are trying to put across in your statement. How


can I be the person who said, “Hey, nice catch!”? Since that child is 7 days old, what really makes us feel 3 pounds on average? What

is that 3 pounds of Weight?” If a two-pound male looks like this — at four pound if he is an ounce — he is a beast. Look at this guy. Yes

you made a statement to emphasize the surety of your estimate. What happened?


The comparison between a false and a true concept is that the whole information is false.The example will be used again and again.

If a man is sixty years old, he is sixty years old if he would die a single day. I

am a faery queen, “. It could be said similarly

to “If she’s a virgin” ”

Hence, the unreality of the falsity emphasizes and gives validity to the subjective reality that you are trying to put across in your statement.

What do you think about my new book “The Great Ghost stories”?

Answered on December 21, 2021.
Add Comment

I can’t guess, I’ve never looked into this funny expression. The elliptic formula is not perfect. Even the small print will ruin your calculations. I guess that fellow

  • weighs at least four pounds. Is it true he’s lacking an ounce or two?

I am completely wrong. I am curious what natives

would say in an interview.

Answered on December 21, 2021.
Add Comment

What is ellipsis at beginning of the sentence (John Lawler tells us that this is conversational deletion): he is

four pounds if he’s an ounce.

Otherwise this is a perfectly ordinary conditional, described this way in Chapter 10, ‘Rhetorical Conditionals’, of Renaat Declerck and Susan Reed, Inc., 2001, p.345. (And their terminology rests on the stock formula for conditionals such as, “If p, then q”).

In such examples (in which both clauses typically use an indication measure, amount, number, etc.), the function of the if -clause is to emphasize that there is no doubt whatever whatever that the Q-clause is true. This type has much in common with direct inferential, since it expresses ‘P is patently true, hence Q must be true too.’ There is no real premise to the if clause. it usually follows the Q clause (whereas premise-expressing P clauses seldom do). Rather than being the P-clause the if clause is a purely rhetorical device to emphasize the truth of the q-clause.

The fish clearly qualifies as being at least an ounce; argal, my assertion that he weighs four pounds is clearly true.

Answered on December 21, 2021.
Add Comment

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