Fòram na Gàidhlig

I think I have just been deafened by the roar of a hair being split.

Well, we are in the grammar section, are we not?

Seonaidh wrote:I think I have just been deafened by the roar of a hair being split.

Cha chuala mi rud sam bi. You can certainly usually do one thing and still often do another, even its'opposite, can't you?

Ay lad, but if somebody said "often" instead of "usually" (or the other way about), I don't think I'd actually notice. Mar as trice, anyway. Or mar as abhaist, shall we say.

Is mar as trice not 'more often than not' or 'as often as nott'? i.e. generally, not specifically.

Which can't necessarily be used in the same contexts as just 'often' or 'usually'.

'Johnny pulls your leg more often than not' is OK,

but not

'I was pulling your leg! > 'As often as not!'

as in this case it was one specific incident that was being referred to, not his general tendency.

You could say 'as he often does' = 'mar as tric a tha' or 'mar as tric a thachras'
OR 'as so often' = 'mar cho trice' (calque?), or of course 'mar as àbhaist'.

Mo sgillin ruadh!

Some more noisy hairs for Seonaidh.

Craic a Toa...

Tapadh leat, fhaoileag!

Mar a chanas sinn sa Ghearmailtis, saoil gu bheil falt a' fàs air ar fiaclan cuideachd?