Dead-on serious

[ghoul]

Can "dead-on serious" be used instead of "dead serious"?

 

[Tarheel]

Yes. Just to be sure, I googled "dead-on serious".

 

[jutfrank]

I say a big fat no.

The word 'dead-on' means something like 'precisely'. It doesn't make any sense before 'serious'.

It's usually better to say 'deadly serious' anyway rather than 'dead serious'.

 

[Tarheel]

Well, I found right examples of "dead-on serious". (I checked again.)

 

[jutfrank]

Well, I found eight examples of "dead-on serious". (I checked again.)

I still say no.

It doesn't matter what you can find on the web. I could give you a billion examples of incorrect nonsense but that doesn't mean it's good English. I think what ghoul really means to ask is whether we think he should say it.

 

[ghoul]

Well, I found right examples of "dead-on serious".

I still say no.

It doesn't matter what you can find on the web. I could give you a billion examples of incorrect nonsense but that doesn't mean it's good English. I think what ghoul really means to ask is whether we think he should say it.

True; I value your guys' opinions because I find it hard to tell if a phrase feels right to a native just because some people from linguee texts used it.
Anyhow, we're at 1:1 right now.

 

[Tarheel]

@ghoul It's nice that you value our opinions.

I don't think I've ever used "dead serious" and certainly not the other one. Why is that? Well, it's usually quite obvious when you're serious. Therefore, there's no reason to say that. Also, "dead-on serious" is, going by the small sample of usages I've seen, used to contrast with "humorous".

I don't disagree with Jutfrank. (It's not a contest.)

 

[Skrej]

It doesn't bother me. I'd say it's okay.