[General] With inches to spare

[holdenenglish]

Teachers

In the sentence "She crossed the marriage line with inches to spare in her late thirties and had two sons in her forties", does it mean that after she got married, and had little time left in her late thirties?

Source: attached

 

[Raymott]

It seems to mean "After she got married, [STRIKE]and[/STRIKE] she had little time left in her forties."
She married very shortly before her fortieth birthday. I haven't heard "crossing the marriage line" before, but can't imagine what else it might mean.

 

[Tdol]

In the sentence "She crossed the marriage line with inches to spare in her late thirties and had two sons in her forties", does it mean that after she got married, and had little time left in her late thirties?

Yes, but it is making huge assumptions about a woman's marriageability.

 

[Yankee]

Teachers

In the sentence "She crossed the marriage line with inches to spare in her late thirties and had two sons in her forties", does it mean that after she got married, and had little time left in her late thirties?

Source: attached


View attachment 3502

Kind of a clumsy stretch of an unwritten rule that suggests it's too late for marriage in a person's late thirties and/or bearing children in her forties.

 

[Raymott]

Kind of a clumsy stretch of an unwritten rule that suggests it's too late for marriage in a person's late thirties and/or bearing children in her forties.

While I agree that the ideal marriage age is arbitrary, it's not an unwritten rule about having children in one's 40s. There is a proven increase in complications after 40. But I have no problem with people marrying for the first time at 90, as long as they don't expect children!

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/15/parenting/pregnancy/baby-after-40.html

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Yes, it means she got married just in time to have kids.

More expressions that mean the same thing:

- just in the nick of time
- under the wire
- with no time to spare
- at the eleventh hour
- by the skin of her teeth
- by a hair's breadth (When I was little, I thought it was by a hare's breath.)

 

[Rover_KE]

Don't forget the little known novel 'I Only Just Made It' by Nat Swisker and Justin Thyme.