For the hazard of five dollars, you get ten dollars - "five will get you ten". This just describes a simple bet in which two people put five dollars each in the pot, and the winner takes all. But the speaker is assuring you that what (s)he’s saying is a certain thing, and there’s no hazard involved - five will get you ten.
The expression is "Five will get you ten that [the sun will rise tomorrow]" or some similar construction. "Five will bet you ten" makes no sense I can think of.
[quote author=granthutchison link=board=idiom;num=1041888755;start=0#3 date=01/06/03 at 17:59:58]For the hazard of five dollars, you get ten dollars - "five will get you ten". This just describes a simple bet in which two people put five dollars each in the pot, and the winner takes all. But the speaker is assuring you that what (s)he’s saying is a certain thing, and there’s no hazard involved - five will get you ten.
Not shall?
NOTICE TO ALL: That was a joke and not a request for more information.
Thank you.
[quote author=granthutchison link=board=idiom;num=1041888755;start=0#3 date=01/06/03 at 17:59:58]For the hazard of five dollars, you get ten dollars - "five will get "Five will bet you ten" makes no sense I can think of.
Right, it made absolutely no sense to me either, but then the "real" one, "five will get you ten," was also causing me some mental difficulty, which is all cleared up now.
[quote author=tamisaac link=board=idiom;num=1041888755;start=0#4 date=01/06/03 at 18:09:16]
Not shall?
NOTICE TO ALL: That was a joke and not a request for more information.
Thank you.
Actually, I find that an interesting joke! And I think the answer is in the intention. Money cannot have an intention and therefore cannot shall... as it were.
Is that the way it would work? Or is shall reserved solely for humankind… Can a donkey shall (or more appropriately, shall not... :P )?
[quote author=tcward link=board=idiom;num=1041888755;start=0#6 date=01/06/03 at 19:46:10]Is that the way it would work?
"Five shall get you ten" would indicate some intention on the part of the speaker - that they were going to organize it so you won your money. Whereas will, in the second and third person, indicates a simple prediction of the future - this is the way the world works. So "will" is the more appropriate choice, here.
This is similar to a saying I’ve heard and used that goes "dollars for doughnuts", implying that I will bet my number of dollars against your same number of doughnuts that what I say is true. Of course, it only means something while the cost of a doughnut is significantly less than a dollar. Inflation may render this saying obsolete (or even reverse it) eventually. :(
And, of course, if you have Krispy Kreme donuts, hot, fresh, melt in your mouth (and, yes, Grant, loaded with fat and sugar!), they’re worth more than their weight in gold!
[quote author=tcward link=board=idiom;num=1041888755;start=0#10 date=01/07/03 at 11:46:19]And, of course, if you have Krispy Kreme donuts, hot, fresh, melt in your mouth (and, yes, Grant, loaded with fat and sugar!), they’re worth more than their weight in gold!
Doughnuts go on my list of foods I can’t eat. Not when I’m hungry—they’re not food; not when I’m not (who could stuff one of those things in when you’re full)... :’(
[quote author=tamisaac link=board=idiom;num=1041888755;start=0#11 date=01/07/03 at 11:49:22]
(who could stuff one of those things in when you’re full)... :’(
Um..er..
(raising hand slowly)
We are talking about hot Krispy Kremes[sup]TM[/sup], right?
[quote author=tcward link=board=idiom;num=1041888755;start=0#10 date=01/07/03 at 11:46:19]And, of course, if you have Krispy Kreme donuts, hot, fresh, melt in your mouth (and, yes, Grant, loaded with fat and sugar!), they’re worth more than their weight in gold!
I am wearing a Krispy Kreme doughnut T-shirt right now! That is how much I love Krispy Kremes. (And have you noticed that they spell their donuts "doughnuts"?)
Jack - I recently heard that expression, "dollars for donuts," for the first time. I thought it was a New York expression, but that’s only because I heard it from a New Yorker.
[quote author=dgale link=board=idiom;num=1041888755;start=0#13 date=01/07/03 at 12:28:38](And have you noticed that they spell their donuts "doughnuts"?)
No, I never noticed that!... although I am getting the feeling of déjà vu over this whole conversation…
