How long have British people been using ‘just about’ to mean ‘barely’ and not ‘almost’. E.g., “the goalkeeper just about caught the ball” would mean a close save and not a goal.
My dad asked me about it in relation to football announcers and I hadn’t noticed it before but now I’m observing it more (and in things dating back at least a few years). Is this recent and becoming a more common usage or is it longstanding and I’m only noticing it now that I’m looking for it?
Huh, do Americans use it the other way round? Now that I try to pick apart the meaning, I can't really justify why "just about" means the thing has happened - you can also say you're "just about" to do something, which means you haven't started it yet (I imagine US English has that feature too).
Oh, huh, yeah. Both examples in the 'barely' case are ones that I would comfortably use as well so I guess I do use both meanings. Maybe it's just noticing it more in contexts where I would favour the other meaning.
