No way was my old man going to spring for the fees…

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to tell me whether I am right with my free interpretation of the following sentence?

No way was my old man going to spring for the fees….

Otherwise my old man by no means would have paid for my tuition…

Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

V

[Tullia]

Dear teachers,

Would you be kind enough to tell me whether I am right with my free interpretation of the following sentence?

No way was my old man springing for the fees….

Otherwise my old man wouldn’t be pay for my tuition…

Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

V

It should be "springing for", otherwise it is grammatically incorrect.


Meaning: There was no chance my father/husband would pay the costs.

I think you are probably right to assume "fees" refers to tuition, but without context I won't give you a definate yes one that.

The phrase old man is a colloquial term for either a father or a husband and again, only context will help you decide which is referred to here.

[vil]

Hi Tullia,

Here is requested context. Please see my correction in my original interpretation above!

You know, I want to thank you for getting me into this class…
No way was my old man going to spring for the fees…

Thank you for your kindness.

V.

[Tullia]

Hi Tullia,

Here is requested context. Please see my correction in my original interpretation above!

You know, I want to thank you for getting me into this class…
No way was my old man going to spring for the fees…

Thank you for your kindness.

V.

Then yes, it most surely means tuition fees :) I'd also say that it's probably more likely that "old man" means "father" given that most students are unmarried - although this is of course not guaranteed by any means!

I'm still not sure about your "otherwise he wouldn't have paid"; the phrase as it stands doesn't really tell us if he eventually paid or not. If the other person got the speaker into the class by persuading the father to pay, fine, but if he has got him into the class by persuading the teacher to take him for free, then "otherwise he wouldn't have paid" obviously won't work. It's a very fine distinction though and you certainly have the general meaning correct!

[Gillnetter]

Then yes, it most surely means tuition fees :) I'd also say that it's probably more likely that "old man" means "father" given that most students are unmarried - although this is of course not guaranteed by any means!

I'm still not sure about your "otherwise he wouldn't have paid"; the phrase as it stands doesn't really tell us if he eventually paid or not. If the other person got the speaker into the class by persuading the father to pay, fine, but if he has got him into the class by persuading the teacher to take him for free, then "otherwise he wouldn't have paid" obviously won't work. It's a very fine distinction though and you certainly have the general meaning correct!

No way was my old man going to spring for the fees….
This seems to be very much of an American phrase. I have heard it many times - "No way was I going to spring for the cost of a new car". The question I have is the meaning of "old man". It probably means father but a wife can refer to her husband as the "old man".