[Idiom] Your guess is as good as mine

[Olympian]

Hello,

what do these mean?

1. 'Your guess is as good as mine.'

2. 'He is as good as the next guy.'

3. 'He is as good as anyone.'

4. 'He is as good as they come.'

Since I have heard 1 in response to a question by someone, my guess is that it means basically that 'I don't know'. In other words, your guess would be as good as mine (if I were to guess). Is this correct?

Thank you.

[svartnik]

Originally Posted by Olympian

Hello,

what do these mean?

1. 'Your guess is as good as mine.'

2. 'He is as good as the next guy.'

3. 'He is as good as anyone.'

4. 'He is as good as they come.'

Since I have heard 1 in response to a question by someone, my guess is that it means basically that 'I don't know'. In other words, your guess would be as good as mine (if I were to guess). Is this correct?

Thank you.

1. = I do not know
4. = he is the best
2., 4. = not idiomatic expressions

[Barb_D]

With #2, I'd say it's said to contradict the assertion that he (whoever he is) isn't very good. He may not be the best, but he's not bad: he's as good as the next guy.

[2006]

Originally Posted by olympian

hello,

what do these mean?

1. 'your guess is as good as mine.'
it means that i don't know anything about that.
anything i could say about that would be only a complete guess. So your guess would be just as likely to be correct as mine would.

so your understanding of number 1 is very similar to mine.




2. 'he is as good as the next guy.'

3. 'he is as good as anyone.'

4. 'he is as good as they come.'

2, 3, and 4 are very similar in that they mean that no one is better than he is.
but i would say that they differ in how many people you are measuring him against.

in number 2, you are comparing him to a limited group of people, such as his coworkers for example.


number 3 is a stronger statement. You are comparing him to a much larger group of people, and saying that no one is better than he is.

number 4 is even stronger praise of him. He is so good that it is virtually impossible to be better than he is. So basically you think he is the best anywhere.

i would say that 3 and 4 are closer in meaning to each other than they are to 2.

since i have heard 1 in response to a question by someone, my guess is that it means basically that 'i don't know'. In other words, your guess would be as good as mine (if i were to guess). Is this correct?

Thank you.

2006

[Offroad]

Originally Posted by 2006

1. 'your guess is as good as mine.'
it means that i don't know anything about that.
anything i could say about that would be only a complete guess. So your guess would be just as likely to be correct as mine would.

so your understanding of number 1 is very similar to mine.
2006

I have a feeling that that could have a different meaning whether we change the context:

A: How much do you think that muscle car is?
B: Hmmm... 1 mn dollars?
A: Interesting... I was about to say that the car costs 1.2 mn dollars.
B: Well... your guess is as good as mine, the seller says it costs 1.15 mn dollars.

[bhaisahab]

Originally Posted by marciobarbalho

I have a feeling that that could have a different meaning whether we change the context:

A: How much do you think that muscle car is?
B: Hmmm... 1 mn dollars?
A: Interesting... I was about to say that the car costs 1.2 mn dollars.
B: Well... your guess is as good as mine, the seller says it costs 1.15 mn dollars.

Well, it could mean that, but idiomatically it means 'I don't know', as the other members have said.

[Offroad]

Originally Posted by bhaisahab

Well, it could mean that, but idiomatically it means 'I don't know', as the other members have said.

Exactly, that's why I said the context had to be different.