won't be a minute

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

My grammar book has an example sentence without explanation:

-I’m not quite ready - won’t be a minute.

Does it mean?:

  1. [I] won’t be [ready in] a minute.

or

  1. [I] won’t be [not quite ready in] a minute.
2

I think it’s short for “it won’t be a minute before I’m ready”.
Or I will be ready in under a minute.

3

Thank you, Tort; but isn’t the meaning contraditory?:

-I’m not quite ready - I will be ready in under a minute.

4

Well if you’re not quite ready, then it’s reasonable to assume that you will be in under a minute.
.
Where do you think the contradiction lies?

5

Hi Jackson,

Look at definition 5 in the following link:
not quite
In your sentence, “I’m not quite ready” means that the speaker is not completely ready, but is almost ready.

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[size=75]“It’s spring fever… You don’t quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” ~ Mark Twain[/size]

6

Oh I see; I thought it contradictory because I mistook it to mean NOT READY AT ALL.

Thank you~