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We probably all know the phrase in the offing to mean "coming soon". Can it also be used to mean "nearby"? I wrote a limerick for OEDILF a while back: There was a young man from LA Who swallowed his beer the wrong way. Then he started coughing, And friends in the offing All found themselves covered in spray. Some people have commented that my use in the limerick is confusing as it doesn't refer to the future. Whilst it's mostly used in that way, it has also been used elsewhere in the way I've used it. I quoted the definitions in Dictionary.com, which are: 1. In the near or immediate future; soon to come: 2. Nearby; at hand. Someone else quotes the OED: "nearby, at hand; imminent; likely to happen in the near future" I wonder, is the use to mean "soon" alone, but not "near", an American phenomenon, or was it that the people happened not to have come across its use in that way before? Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. | ||
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I've only ever come across it in the "soon" meaning although it does seem to me to carry a hint of something that is likely to happen rather than certain. "No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson. | |||
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Interesting, Arnie. I was going to post the same thing! It was a nice limerick. We in the U.S. just don't use the phraseology that often, right fellow U.S.A.ians (or whatever)? I had thought it to mean in the future (not near) when I first read it, but you clarified the issue. | |||
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American; only heard of it in the sense of imminent. | |||
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Good to see you here, Judah! Where are you from? Wordcrafters have problems with the word "American" for those who live in the U.S. since the word also includes people from South America, Central America, Mexico, and Canada. So, I never know what to call people in the U.S.  | |||
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From the United States of America (Boston), but I learned how to speak in Canada, and as I have dual citizenship, and the Mexicans and South Americans speak Spanish, I think I can safely claim title to the term American.  | |||
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Is it possible that the "nearby" used in this definition is a reference more to nearness of a time rather than proximity of something tangible, as in the case of the limerick's friends? Having never heard nor read "in the offing" used in any way other than an implication that something will be happening soon, I tend to think the expression always refers to time. If so, I tend, also, to take issue with "nearby" as a definition. | |||
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I don't have access to the OED myself, but the workshopper who gave the OED's definition also give this cite: Lady Cecilia Clarendon and Miss Stanley now appeared in the offing. I've definitely seen it used elsewhere in the 'nearby' sense. However, I've done some Googling for "in the offing" and so far as I can see, most definitions only give the "in the immediate future" meaning, apart from AHD, quoted by Dictionary.com, and the OED. Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life. | |||
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The OED Online
The Phrase Finder
Tinman | |||
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