Originally posted by Abby Normal
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As I understand it, he made an argument a year or two ago that 'one-off' could relate to a one-year old pony or horse. I forget the exact details but they were along these lines. This argument was then analysed by Lord Orsam and (no surprises here) debunked (in his opinion).
Now, I think this is where the ambiguity comes in. Yesterday, Gary posted a clipping he states was from 1864 in which the expression 'one-off promising filly' was used. I took this to imply a unique promising filly (it was not obvious why it would be unique, granted) and I assumed that the equine-reference was simply a coincidence (like we don't have enough of those in this case?). Perhaps I was too previous in accepting this position. Perhaps he was pursuing his previous argument that 'one-off' in the context of a horse was related to its age, but - if he was - I'm unclear why Orsam needed to have known about the 1864 reference. That is, why would an earlier use be any more relevant to the argument if the later usage had been debunked?
Anyway, I'm happy to be corrected. Gary, could you clarify for the casual readers amongst us (clearly including myself here) what argument you were making by posting the 1864 clipping, please?
Cheers,
Ike
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