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   Colin the Mathmo (colinthemathmo@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Thursday, 22-Jan-2026 10:07:28 JST Colin the Mathmo

   in reply to

   • Blockforest
   • Ioannis Konstantoulas
   • David Arch

   @blockforest One could say "I nearly caught it" which, despite the presence of "caught" means you actually missed it.

   I read "I just about caught is" as equivalent to, but even more whisker-like, as "I nearly caught it".

   @david @ykonstant

   • clacke likes this.
   • Embed this notice
     Blockforest (blockforest@mastodon.social)'s status on Thursday, 22-Jan-2026 10:07:29 JST Blockforest

     in reply to

     • Ioannis Konstantoulas
     • David Arch

     @david @ykonstant @ColinTheMathmo I think that's the difference, I wouldn't say I just about caught it, unless I had caught it, because otherwise I would have missed it. I would say 'I missed the train', or 'I missed it by a whisker', or something similar, with additional swear words probably.

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     David Arch (david@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Thursday, 22-Jan-2026 10:07:38 JST David Arch

     in reply to

     • Ioannis Konstantoulas

     @ykonstant @ColinTheMathmo This. And would one not use "missed the train" if one actually just missed it? Thus, my uneducated guess (non-native speaker) is that the verb "catch" outweighs any nuances regarding the "about". Thanks for the interesting topic!

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     Ioannis Konstantoulas (ykonstant@mathstodon.xyz)'s status on Thursday, 22-Jan-2026 10:07:39 JST Ioannis Konstantoulas

     @ColinTheMathmo They caught the train for sure. Evidence: there's not a single swear word in there.