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To see off piranha this fish has strong armour

economist.com

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Re: To see off piranha this fish has strong armour

#6
post #5

As an English as a second language speaker, this is the first time in years that a sentence has stumped me. Is this a common construction? Thanks to a dictionary I now know that "to see off" means "to fend off".

I wouldn’t consider it common in the sense that it’s used often in every day conversation, but it’s definitely a construction I’ve heard enough to understand without thinking about it, if that makes sense.

Re: To see off piranha this fish has strong armour

#7
post #5

As an English as a second language speaker, this is the first time in years that a sentence has stumped me. Is this a common construction? Thanks to a dictionary I now know that "to see off" means "to fend off".

It's a British idiom rather than a general English construct.

Re: To see off piranha this fish has strong armour

#8
post #7
post #5

As an English as a second language speaker, this is the first time in years that a sentence has stumped me. Is this a common construction? Thanks to a dictionary I now know that "to see off" means "to fend off".

It's a British idiom rather than a general English construct.

It's definitely not common in America, where it's more commonly used in, e.g., a parting of ways with a close friend or relation for a journey ("see Johhny off [to the airport for college]").

Re: To see off piranha this fish has strong armour

#9
post #5

As an English as a second language speaker, this is the first time in years that a sentence has stumped me. Is this a common construction? Thanks to a dictionary I now know that "to see off" means "to fend off".

As a native speaker of American English, I can assure you that "to see off" does not mean "to fend off"; I had no trouble understanding what the title meant, but I assumed it was an error.

A sidethread comment suggests this is a Britishism.

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