Dherar asks:
If I said "The difference between me and you is ..." Does it mean that this is the only difference or it's one of the differences?
We'd assume that it's the only important difference:
The difference between me and you is that you're taller than I am.
The difference between me and you is our ages.
The difference between me and you is that you like fish and I don't.
Otherwise, we'd say: "One of the differences between me and you..." or "The differences between me and you include our height, our ages, and your fondness for fish."
Could you share comment on the phrase "looking to" as in "She is looking to change her career." This one seems to be replacing the more precise "planning to." Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Posted by: Fred Talbott | January 01, 2007 at 06:13 PM
Thanks for pointing this out, Fred. You're right. In casual speech, "looking to" does seem to be replacing similar expressions. This may be a North American trend. Has anyone noticed it in the UK, Australia, or elsewhere in the English-speaking world?
Posted by: Crawford Kilian | January 01, 2007 at 10:23 PM
Thanks for clearing it. I was wondering the same.
Posted by: 2deep | June 23, 2007 at 01:47 AM
In answer to this teen-aged question:
"If I said "The difference between me and you is...", does it mean..."
I would say that depending on if you are in a specific topic of conversation or are speaking in general. That expression is heard as part of a very specific discussion in which two people disagree and one will tell the other, "The difference between you and me is [that you are willing to do whatever and I am not]", for example. It would be very difficult for two people to only have one difference between them, generally speaking.
Posted by: Yoma Ma | June 17, 2021 at 05:26 PM