English Explanatory Dictionary

I hardly know her

English dictionary entry

Meanings

phrase
  1. A joking retort that draws attention to the possibility of sexual innuendo when a word ends with a schwar.

Pronunciation

/aɪ ˈhɑɹd.li noʊ‿əɹ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-I hardly know her.wav

Word forms

I hardly know her I hardly even know her I hardly know 'er

Etymology

From the fact that a word ending in /əɹ/ (usually ⟨-er⟩ or ⟨-or⟩) sounds like a verb followed by “her” as the direct object.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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