more and more about less and less

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

I wish to know more about the phrase “less and less” in this quotation “An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less” by Nicholas Murray Butler.

2

“less and less” provides the sense that something is progressively decreasing or diminishing. For example: “I like him less and less”. In your case, “less and less” conveys the idea that an expert’s focus becomes narrower as his expertise in a particular field increases. It also generally makes the sentence seem more “dynamic”.

3

Now I get the whole picture. Thanks, Dozy.

But I’m afraid I need to ask two more questions relating to the two sayings that I’m not be able to decipher here, :slight_smile:

  1. We are able to walk on air, but only as long as our illusion supports us. Does this mean we are doing something unrealistic and let our “false” imagination and hope to hold us aloft for doing so even though it’s inevitable that the unfavorable and negative results are coming their way?

  2. I found the following quote “A. 44 magnum beats four aces” here [url]http://coolquotescollection.com/Laws[/url] and I really have no idea about its meaning. (Does this somehow connect to the poker rule?)

Many thanks in advance.

4

  1. Yes. (I suppose “only as long as” doesn’t strictly mean the illusion will inevitably end. I mean, the sentence could support the possibility that some people labour under an illusion all their lives. But essentially you are correct.)

  2. Yes, it’s to do with poker. Four aces will beat (outrank) almost all other hands, but a .44 magnum is a type of gun, so regardless of how lousy your own hand is, you can shoot or threaten your poker opponent and take all the money anyway.

5

Finally I get the pictures of them, especially the latter, thanks Dozy. An in an effort to alter my very own way to appreciate your help, I’ll change that to, “How about tomorrow lunch is on me?”
Imaginary lunch I’m afraid, :smiley:

6

I guess if it ain’t chicken, it’s feathers because now my question is, how do we pronounce them? Do we call it “a dot forty-four magnum”, or “dot forty-four magnum” or something else?

7

It’s famous as the gun that Clint Eastwood used in his “Dirty Harry” role ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Harry ). There is a well-known scene (below), in which he pronounces it “forty-four Magnum”. I’d guess that more formally it would be called a “point four four Magnum”. It is unlikely to be pronounced with “dot”. As a singular noun, it needs an article (or other determiner).

youtube.com/watch?v=0Hw3i-DS9ss

[Edited] Actually, it seems from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.44_Magnum that “.44 Magnum” is strictly the name of the cartridge that you load into the gun, but it seems to also be used (as above) to mean the gun that takes that size of cartridge. I do not know a great deal about guns.

8

Oh OK. Thanks for the YouTube link and Wikipedia link (for I always hungry for knowledge, :-)) As you can probably tell, I’m always revelled in reading your reply.
Thanks a lot.
P.S: Sorry for the late reply (no reply from me to indicate that I’m understand what you said is not my style) and also sorry for trespassing you so long for your attention to this post. Also, sorry for not having the gut feeling to check with this from YouTube site, :slight_smile: