Question

Updated on 1 Feb 2023

Lee_D237

26 January

Simplified Chinese (China)

English (US)
English (UK)

Question about English (US)

What does You never struck me as much of a history buff back then. mean?

What does "struck" and "as much of" mean?

Answers

FunAndLoving

26 January

English (US)

It suggests that the speaker is surprised or impressed by the listener's knowledge or interest in history and they did not expect this from them before. It's a way to express the idea that the listener's interest in history is new to the speaker or that the speaker had not previously associated them with an interest in history.

1) "You never struck me" is a phrase that means that the person speaking never had a certain impression of the person being spoken to.

Other examples:
- "You never struck me as the type to get so emotional."
- "You never struck me as someone who would be interested in that kind of music."
- "You never struck me as someone who would be so passionate about cooking."

2) "As much of" is used to indicate the degree or extent of something. In this case, it is used to indicate that the speaker did not think that the person they are speaking to had a significant interest or knowledge of history.

Other examples:
- "You never struck me as much of a party person before."
- "You never showed as much of a sense of humor as you do now."

3) "Buff" is a slang term that can be used to describe someone who is knowledgeable, passionate or skilled in a particular subject or activity. It can be used in a variety of contexts, such as:

- "She's a movie buff, she knows everything about the film industry."
- "He's a fitness buff, he works out every day."
- "She's a language buff, she speaks multiple languages fluently."
- "He's a computer buff, he can fix any problem."

Highly-rated answerer

revlove

26 January

English (US)

They didn't know you knew so much about history back then (up until this moment usually)

Struck is another way of getting an impression of someone, noticing or picking up something

Strike: present
Struck: past
"You strike me as the astrology type" (based on what I know about you so far I'm guessing you're the astrology type"
"He struck me as an anime fan"

"As" is used for comparison. "Much of" in this context is like, at the very least they didn't know you were knowledgeable of history THAT MUCH. It just sort of adds emphasis. Tbh it kind of sounds a bit condescending but not necessarily.

Highly-rated answerer

Lee_D237

26 January

Simplified Chinese (China)

@FunAndLoving @FunAndLoving Thank you guys so much! Bcs Chinese doesn't have this structure, can I translate it as "I never knew you were a history buff back then" (where should I put "as much of")

FunAndLoving

26 January

English (US)

@Lee_D237 Some possible ways to reword it:

- “I would never expect you to be such a huge history buff.”
- “I never got the sense that you had so much interest in history before.”
- “You never gave off the impression of being so into history to me before.”

Highly-rated answerer

Lee_D237

26 January

Simplified Chinese (China)

@FunAndLoving Thank you!!!

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What does You never struck me as much of a history buff back then. mean?

What does You never struck me as much of a history buff back then. mean? See a translation

@Lee_D237 Some possible ways to reword it:- “I would never expect you to be such a huge history buff.”- “I never got the sense that you had so much interest in history before.”- “You never gave off the impression of being so into history to me before.”

What does You never struck me as much of a history buff back then. mean?

@Lee_D237 Some possible ways to reword it:

- “I would never expect you to be such a huge history buff.”
- “I never got the sense that you had so much interest in history before.”
- “You never gave off the impression of being so into history to me before.”