Re: Question about an idiom & and phrase

"Free Spirit" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> in article [EMAIL PROTECTED], Adrian Bailey
at
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote on 11/28/03 10:32 AM:
>
> > "Free Spirit" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >> 1. a mean hand at something means be good at something
> >>
> >> What is the difference in the following sentences?
> >> a.  She is a mean hand at carpentry.
> >> b.  She has a mean hand at carpentry.
> >
> > (b) is wrong, imo.
>
> Thanks a lot, Adrian.
>
> So, a mean hand doesn't belong to the group like, a tin ear, a green thumb
> and two left feet, in which, to have is used instead of to be. For
example,
>
> She/he has a green thumb/tin ear/two left feet.
>
>
> >> 2. What is the difference between one-on-one and one-to-one?
> >
> > A competition can be one-on-one.
> > A conversation can be one-to-one.
>
> How about tutoring? Should one-on-one or one-to-one be used?
>
> Zoe

There's often no logic to idiom, nor (in my view) is there really a right
or wrong in a large, moral sense.

What is acceptable is what is conventional; and what is conventional is
what has been repeated (for any number of reasons) by a given group of
speakers and writers.

Why does one sentence sound better than another? Only because it is
recognized in some way by a native speaker. When someone says that it
"sounds right to me," the native speaker usually means that he or she has
heard it and remembers or recognizes it, not necessarily because there
is some arcane logic at work.

The key is iteration, not morality or logic.

M.