[Idiom] what doesn it mean ?

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super_ze1234

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i want to chase flies with my friends
"chase flies" = ?
 

probus

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I guess you are finding the literal meaning implausible. In AmE, it might mean "I want to play baseball with my friends."
 

super_ze1234

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I guess you are finding the literal meaning implausible. In AmE, it might mean "I want to play baseball with my friends."
are you sure ?? can you give me some references about it ???
 

probus

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Are you sure? Can you give me some references concerning it?

Please note my corrections to your question.

Yeah dude, I'm sure. I've been speaking American English all my life, 66 years to date. In American slang, chasing flies can mean playing baseball. In my youth I chased a good many flies myself. Can you think of any other interpretation that might make sense?
 

super_ze1234

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Please note my corrections to your question.

Yeah dude, I'm sure. I've been speaking American English all my life, 66 years to date. In American slang, chasing flies can mean playing baseball. In my youth I chased a good many flies myself. Can you think of any other interpretation that might make sense?
yes, thank you. But i don't know why my sentence "Are you sure?" is wrong ???
 

emsr2d2

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Yes, thank you. But I don't know why my sentence "Are you sure?" is wrong? [strike]???[/strike]

Probus corrected your "Are you sure?" question because you did not start it with a capital letter, you left a space before the question mark and you used three question marks. There are rules in written English and you need to follow them when you post on this forum:

- Start every sentence with a capital letter.
- End every sentence with a single appropriate punctuation mark.
- Always capitalise the word "I".
- Do not put a space before a full stop, comma, question mark or exclamation mark.
- Always put a space after a full stop, comma, question mark or exclamation mark.
 

super_ze1234

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Probus corrected your "Are you sure?" question because you did not start it with a capital letter, you left a space before the question mark and you used three question marks. There are rules in written English and you need to follow them when you post on this forum:

- Start every sentence with a capital letter.
- End every sentence with a single appropriate punctuation mark.
- Always capitalise the word "I".
- Do not put a space before a full stop, comma, question mark or exclamation mark.
- Always put a space after a full stop, comma, question mark or exclamation mark.
Oh, yes. I'm sorry. I will follow them. Thanks all.
 

Raymott

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I guess you are finding the literal meaning implausible. In AmE, it might mean "I want to play baseball with my friends."
I guess you're asking to be challenged whether you are sure if you say "it might mean ..." rather than, say, "In AmE, it would almost certainly mean ..., if it wasn't mean literally." In fact I wasn't sure whether you knew you were right either.
 

charliedeut

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Not being that familiar with AmE slang, I would have said it meant "killing time".
 

JMurray

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It might be helpful for the OP to know that in baseball a "fly ball" is one that's hit high into the air. So when players are training or friends are killing time by running around catching balls that are being hit into the air, it's sometimes referred to as "chasing flies".
 
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