Timeline for Is the usage "God only knows" correct?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 13, 2014 at 7:48 | comment | added | Kris | Jayachandran, Not necessary. See the TFD entry I've cited first. | |
| Sep 13, 2014 at 5:33 | comment | added | Jay | @Kris, I am familiar with the Indian idiom which will translate word-to-word to 'God only knows'. And I am used to people using it that way in India. However, the conversation was in a Hollywood movie. May be the script writer had too many Indian friends :-). | |
| Sep 12, 2014 at 7:44 | review | Close votes | |||
| Sep 14, 2014 at 18:17 | |||||
| Sep 12, 2014 at 7:26 | comment | added | Kris | TFD: "inf. Only God knows.; No one knows but God." ( idioms.thefreedictionary.com/God+only+knows! ) Also, it's an Indianism, a word-to-word translation of the popular Indian idiom. | |
| Sep 12, 2014 at 5:49 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackEnglish/status/510304199695802368 | ||
| Sep 12, 2014 at 5:34 | comment | added | Jim | @Jayachandran- The usage becomes ambiguous, but if you firmly plant the notion of only you as you onlythen transition to God only and even to James only you can see how it works. But I agree that no one would use James only that we because it would be misinterpreted. But the fact remains that "God only knows" does use that usage where it means only God but with the words order inverted. | |
| Sep 12, 2014 at 5:18 | vote | accept | Jay | ||
| Sep 12, 2014 at 5:17 | comment | added | Jay | @Jim, I am not too sure whether it is the same usage. If we replace 'God' with 'James', there is a notable distinction; 'James only knows' and 'Only James knows'. So my question was whether the usage is idiomatically correct. | |
| Sep 12, 2014 at 5:07 | comment | added | Jim | It the same usage of only as in you, and you only, are allowed in. | |
| Sep 12, 2014 at 5:05 | answer | added | bye | timeline score: 12 | |
| Sep 12, 2014 at 4:56 | comment | added | anongoodnurse | It's akin to saying "God alone knows". And yes, that's how it's said/used. However, if you think Only God knows is more appropriate, use that. Either way, people will understand it. | |
| Sep 12, 2014 at 4:47 | review | First posts | |||
| Sep 12, 2014 at 5:19 | |||||
| Sep 12, 2014 at 4:44 | history | asked | Jay | CC BY-SA 3.0 |