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What kind of deal is this?

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August 27, 2008, 19:51
shufitz
What kind of deal is this?
The radio has been airing an annoying ad-jingle that puns on the word deal.The deal in line 3 has the familiar meaning of "a bargain", but the deal in the last line means "an amount".

We never see the word in the latter sense, except in the phrase "a great deal" of this or that, meaning "a lot". You might say that you've made "a great deal of progress," but you'd never say that you maded "a large deal of progress" or "a small deal of progress."

This sense of the word "deal" [= an amount] has become obsolete, except in the phrase "a great deal".

Was it ever used more generally? Have you ever heard it so used?
August 27, 2008, 20:09
Valentine
That's not a big deal?
August 27, 2008, 20:10
<Asa Lovejoy>
I still hear the phrase, "...no big deal."
August 28, 2008, 05:58
<Proofreader>
You've all given me a good deal of grief.
August 28, 2008, 06:04
Valentine
I also hear the phrase "It was a deal of trouble", which I had heretofore assumed derived from the dealing of cards.
August 28, 2008, 07:27
<Proofreader>
Can't we deal with this later?
August 28, 2008, 08:24
zmježd
English deal < Old English dǣlan 'to divide, share' < PIE *dail- 'to divide' (link) :- related words German teilen 'to divide', Urteil 'judgment', English ordeal.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.