On Jul 20, 4:24*pm, Clark wrote:
D Ramapriya wrote in news:0850a07f-9837-4575-92c0-
:

Was wondering about this term "near-miss"... shouldn't a near-miss
actually be a collision and a near-collision a miss?

Ramapriya

No. It seems some folks fail to understand that a "miss" can be near or far
and still be a miss.


It's the hyphenation that makes the "near" more an adjective than
adverb. "Near miss" would be a lot clearer than "near-miss". While a
near-miss in itself doesn't mean a collision, just as not unreasonable
doesn't = reasonable, it does indicate that a miss was nearly missed.
After all, a near-death experience shows a brush with death, ergo a
near-collision would be nearer the intended conveyance than near-miss.

The engine at full throttle, when the opposite is apropos, is another
such term...

The pettifoggery of semantics

Ramapriya