@garfaagel@sh.itjust.works to Today I Learned (TIL)@lemmy.ca • 9 months 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-up1151arrow-down18
arrow-up1143arrow-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@garfaagel@sh.itjust.works to Today I Learned (TIL)@lemmy.ca • 9 months agomessage-square24fedilink
minus-squareNaNlinkEnglish32•9 months 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@Rodeo@lemmy.calinkfedilink42•9 months 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.