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Joined: Nov 2000
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old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866 |
Thanks for all the replies.
I just got to wondering about the phrase. To my way of thinking, there's an argument for both "by the same token" and "buy the same taken" - without changing the meaning or usage of the phrase.
The only example I'm aware of of a homophone giving the same meaning when used in a phrase....
by the same token you have this choice...
buy the same token and this is also an option"
Works for me!
stales
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
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a homophone giving the same meaning when used in a phrase....Well, I can't disagree with that, stales, but I think it is happy coincidence, nevertheless - I have come across the phrase in C19 literature where the context equates closely to Jackie's excellent thesauric contribution. "Tokens" were well known in that period (and earlier) as a substitute for money, to be spent in "the company store" only. But these would not be bought, only used to buy things - analagous to caradea's idea of putting tokens in a machine. But I feel that the alternative meaning of "evidence", or a "sign" is the more likely source of the meaning of this phrase. What an excellent thread! ta, stales!! 
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Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Rubrick and Max agree that The phrase "by the same token" ... It's common meaning is to imply 'on the other hand' I would suggest that the meaning is the precise opposite of that: not "conversely" or "on the other had", but rather "similarly". Per bartleby: http://www.bartleby.com/61/13/T0251300.html: IDIOMS: by the same token In like manner; similarly.That is, the idiom means that a further conclusion is reached from the same argument or premise ["same token"] previously made -- metaphorically, your line of reasoning has produced two conclusions for the price of one.
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addict
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addict
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 544 |
by tells us: 'That's is the end of the penny section'
Whatever does this mean? I love the sound of it, and would happily use it if I knew what to make of it (by the same token, I might use it anyway).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Max notes: Something like 20-25% of all white NZers are of Irish descent...
I wouldn't be surprised if that same statistic held for USn's too... up to the 1960s, anyway, and depending on what one calls white (1/4 Irish, me own sef).
Helen, where art thou?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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at least 50% better
That'd be, what, 3/16ths?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Depends on whether better is 50% more or 50% less.
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