@[email protected] to Today I Learned (TIL)@lemmy.ca • 1 year agoTIL that in 2012 a large solar storm nearly missed Earth by a margin of nine days. If it hit, it could have caused damages to a cost of around $2.6 trillion.en.wikipedia.orgexternal-linkmessage-square24fedilinkarrow-up1150arrow-down18
arrow-up1142arrow-down1external-linkTIL that in 2012 a large solar storm nearly missed Earth by a margin of nine days. If it hit, it could have caused damages to a cost of around $2.6 trillion.en.wikipedia.org@[email protected] to Today I Learned (TIL)@lemmy.ca • 1 year agomessage-square24fedilink
minus-square@[email protected]linkfedilinkEnglish32•1 year agoThat’s a fun little language nuance. Narrowly or barely would be better, physically describing the distance of the miss is uncommon. It was a near miss though, as in “close call”.
minus-square@[email protected]linkfedilink42•1 year agoThe nuance is that “near miss” and “nearly miss” mean exact opposites. “Near miss” means it almost hits, but actually misses. “Nearly miss” means it almost misses, but it actually hits. They just messed up the phrase.
That’s a fun little language nuance. Narrowly or barely would be better, physically describing the distance of the miss is uncommon.
It was a near miss though, as in “close call”.
The nuance is that “near miss” and “nearly miss” mean exact opposites.
“Near miss” means it almost hits, but actually misses.
“Nearly miss” means it almost misses, but it actually hits.
They just messed up the phrase.