Question
Updated on
28 January
- Japanese
-
English (US)
Question about English (US)
What does a little ways down the road mean?
What does a little ways down the road mean?
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- English (US)
"down the road" = traveling on, along the road
if you think of a road as having an incline, you can travel UP the road (one way) or DOWN the road (the other way). which way is forward or back depends on your perspective.
"a little ways" = a short distance
"a long way" = a long distance
so the sentence means
"a short distance further along this/the road".
Highly-rated answerer
- English (US)
- Portuguese (Portugal) Near fluent
- English (US)
- Japanese
- English (US)
my hypothesis:
because "way" is part of "away"
you might say
"he is away"
is he far?
"yes, he is far (away)"
how far?
"AWAY away"
which in time got shortened to
"way away"
or "a way away"
but this is confusing for some to hear clearly, so some started adding an "s"
"a ways away"
(because another meaning of "way" is means, method, course of action - and one often might use the plural "ways", so it is not unexpected or "wrong-sounding")
Highly-rated answerer
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