a long way short

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi,
1)“They look short of confidence, understandably, but the other thing they need badly at the moment is a goal. At the moment, they are a long way short.” – Was that another way of using ‘nothing/little short of something’ expression = “At the moment, they are a long way short” [of miracle]?
2) “She’s so heavy” in Beatles’
I want you so bad
I want you,
I want you so bad
It’s driving me mad, it’s driving me …
She’s so heavy heavy, heavy, heavy.
…
would stand for ‘serious’ but could it be so?
Thank you.

2

  1. “nothing/little short of” has the opposite meaning to “a long way short”. “nothing/little short of” means so close to something as to practically/effectively be that thing. For example, “nothing/little short of a miracle” describes a seemingly miraculous happening. In your case they are a long way short of (= nowhere near) scoring a goal (or playing with confidence).

  2. I’m not sure. “serious”, or “deep/meaningful”, seems a reasonable guess. There may also be some possible connection with the song being “heavy” (loud, distorted guitars, etc.)

3

Thanks, Dozy!

Could you please use “a long way short” in a sentence?

Is it OK?


His statements were a long way short of truth.

Tom

4

You mean “He was economical with the truth in his statements”, Tom? In my view, it’s close to the mark if not actually on. (The naked truth is that ‘truth’ is usually used with ‘the’.)
Still I’m not Dozy.

5

Right, it would be usual to say “His statements were a long way short of the truth”.