Re: She is getting on for seventy

Richard Yates <rayates53@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

This may be the intended meaning but there is another, perhaps less likely,
possibility. "getting on" can be short for "getting on in years" and hence
"older" or "looking older." The sentence could mean that the woman "looks
old for seventy", i.e. looks older than seventy.

That was what I thought it meant, on first reading. (I'm not defending
that, as I now understand that it's a perfectly normal phrase in BrE --
it's just how I read it.)

--
SML, near Seattle
lovelylisting.com
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