In article ,
Gianna writes:
John Hall wrote:
In article ,
Gianna writes:
On the subject of language (but off the subject of weather) I
accidentally saw a moment of 'Richard and Judy' while channel hopping
yesterday. There was a short piece of film showing some sort of food
before switching to Richard who said 'ah I can virtually smell that'.

I appreciate he is a native speaker and all that, but that is an
idiotic thing to say, isn't it?
I don't think so. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines "virtually"
as:
1. in effect, to all intents; 2. nearly, almost.

Might I ask which edition that is, please?

9th edition, 1995.


My COED (rev. 11th. ed. 2006) has:
1 nearly; almost.
2 computing ... [snipped as not relevant here]

It is not unusual for definitions to change but I would like to know
when your (1) was the most current, and perhaps also when that ceased
to be the case, as I have an interest in these things. (The SOED has a
stricter def, btw.)


With regard to Richard, it was my view that 'virtually' (in the sense
of nearly or almost) and 'smell' were mutually exclusive in a logical
sense, rather than questioning the meaning of 'virtually'. Perhaps I
am still a little too literal in my comprehension ... but I still
laughed at him.

I don't think that most people would find what he said in any way odd.
--
John Hall

"I am not young enough to know everything."
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)