What does the phrase "before too long" mean?
Excerpt from where I read this phrase:
The response to the SDK has been quite good and I expect to start hearing about some great apps and success stories before too long.
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It is an oblique way of saying soon. |
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In addition to what Jay said, sentences like this are usually a kind of emphasis. “before too long” figuratively means the exact opposite of “a long time long in the future”. This double negative (which is a form of understatement) is called litotes (thanks to RegDwight for pointing this out). It’s the same as saying “not bad” when you actually mean “quite good indeed”. Interestingly, the same exists in most other languages, and has always exists. For example, in Latin there’s the idiom “non ignoro”. “ignoro” means “I don’t know”, and “non” is just the negation. Thus, “non ignoro”, though literally translated as “I don’t not know”, in reality means “I know exactly“ (with emphasis). |
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It means before it takes too long time. In your example it may mean in 1-2 years. |
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