Sidney Powell could spell me

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

Could anyone please tell me what ‘could spell me’ means in the following sentence?

Let me know if the position includes work in NY… I can’t practice law there but Sidney Powell could spell me.

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2

I think that in this sentence the word ‘spell’ means that someone (Sidney Powell) can do something (work in NY) which (at the moment) I am not able to do. In other words, he can take a particular position which for some reason I can’t.

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3

“Spell me” seems a bit dated to me.
“Pinch-hit for me”, “stand in for me”, or “substitute for me” would work well.

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4

@Arinker, Precisely. That’s what I tried to explain to Torsten. I’ve never heard the phrase ‘pinch-hit for me’ though.

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5

“Pinch hit” is a baseball term that has made its way into the general vocabulary, at least in the US.

I see that Wikipedia has 79 baseball idioms that have made their way into the general language.

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I have never heard the term “spell me” before. It might be something regional, or as Arinker suggested it might be archaic. Either way I’ve never heard it before.

Actually, if I didn’t see the others’ answers already, I would have guessed they were calling Powell a witch.

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