Just tangibles?

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

Hi again - Alan thank you lot of all your detailed explanations.
I have another question. I have just read this sentence:

…whether your site has been up for 1 year or 7 years, etc is all just tangibles.

Now, according to my dictionarty, a tangible is something that can be touched. Why is then used in the sentence above? Wouldn’t the word variables make more sense?
Nicole

2

Hi Nicole,

It’s difficult to know the exact meaning just from the one sentence and not knowing the full context. My feeling is that it refers to tangible assets. The adjective has turned into a noun and indicates I think that the topic is actual money or actual profit. So in the context it would suggest: whether your site has been up for one year or seven what really matters is how much money you have made/how much profit you’ve made/how much you’ve got in terms of assets.

Alan

3

Hi Alan,

Yes you are right, the sentence is from a forum discussion about making money from websites. Here is more:

… I think the point of the topic was to see if anyone has been close or has reached that mark yet [1 million dollars from one website]. Whether taxes are taken out, whether you live off that income and don’t have necessarily 1 million in the bank, whether your site has been up for 1 year or 7 years, etc is all just tangibles.