Thread: Not half good/bad etc.

It seems that this means different thing in American English than in UK. Is this true? In British English, "he is not half lucky" means "he is very lucky". In "Lord of the Flies" by Golding, one boy says to another, "You can't half swim", meaning "You can swim very well".

But according to Random House Unabridged Dictionary, "not half" means "not at all, not really" (His first attempts at painting are not half bad—meaning they are not bad at all).

I don't see the difference in what you are saying. "You can't half swim" means you can swim well. "His paintings are not half bad" means they are good. I think the British just use it more often and in more situations.

Well I do at least understand the question this time!
OK so:
1. it's old fashioned slang. a sort of 'working-class' thing. Usually it was used with 'ain't'.

Examples:
Not half! - I agree with you completely.
'It ain't half hot mum!' - this was the name of a British TV comedy series of the 1970s(80s?). Meaning, of course, that it's very hot.

And just to give you a flavour -
'It doesn't half stink' would be pronounced 'Itdnarf stink'

2. The dictionary entry you mention baffles me to be honest. But I do have a vague recollection that sometimes the meaning would be reversed. Too vague to say anything in particular, I'm afraid.

This is very very slangy/colloquial after all. If I'd written that in an English essay at school, my teacher wouldn't half have given me what for! (OK that was a bit crazy but I could imagine people saying it in London some years ago)

3. His paintings are not half bad / ain't half bad - this sounds to me like his paintings are really bad.

[as you know, i'm british, so take all my comments with that in mind]

Thanks waxwing, you are always very helpful .

Emka, if you don't see the difference, try reading again .

In the first two examples, "not half" means something like "very" or "very well". In the last example, it means "not at all" or "not really".

Aahh .. maybe because it's early in the morning, but it suddenly popped into my brain:

His painting's aren't half bad.
If the emphasis is on 'bad', with a sort of rising intonation, and especially if it's said with an American accent , then I can believe the dictionary entry. The paintings are good.
(I vaguely remember wincing when I first heard this usage. But frankly the whole 'half bad' thing is a kind of butchery of the language)

If the emphasis is on 'aren't half' with a falling intonation on between 'half' and 'bad', and especially if it's said with a British accent (has to be working class though!), then the paintings are terrible.

Can anyone confirm?

Please don't use it, it's horrible!

Yeah I agree. To me 'Not half' always means 'very', and I don't recall ever having heard it used to mean 'not at all', even by an American.

I haven't heard or said 'not half' meaning 'not at all' either, being American.

I have never heard it either, that is why the definition in Random House puzzled me.

Oops, double-post

Here is what I found in one of Honor Harrington books by D. Weber:

"She’s a gorgeous ship, Hamish," Lord William Alexander said as Lieutenant Robards, his older brother’s Grayson flag lieutenant, ushered them into the admiral’s day cabin aboard Benjamin the Great at the end of an extended tour. "And this isn’t half bad, either," the younger Alexander observed as his eyes took in the huge, palatial compartment.