At a short notice

[littlerene24]

What does 'at a short notice' mean?

 

[Esredux]

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/at+short+notice

 

[JMurray]

Note that this phrase doesn't require the indefinite article. It's "at/on short notice".

 

[Alex S]

I always have a problem with a/the... Saw the variant when "a" was used for this idiom, but i can see now it was wrong.

 

[Esredux]

I always have a problem with a/the... Saw the variant when "a" was used for this idiom, but i can see now it was wrong.

Once I found it helpful to examine an idiom more closely to tie its meaning up with any grammar issues. The word notice is uncoutable here and implies rather time before the speaker is going to do sth than a real note or message. But how come you, a native speaker of English, have difficulty in using a/the?! I was taught to believe native speakers have a feel for artices.

 

[MikeNewYork]

It means asking for something right before you need it.
In other words, if you need it quickly and you just decide to call someone and let them know about it.

You can use this in business settings. For example, your boss can say:
hey, thank you for finishing the project on such a short notice.

See the corrections above.

MNY

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Quickly, with little time to prepare.

 

[Mahi93]

Quickly, with little time to prepare.

An example:

Romance at short notice was her specialty.

She was good at making up stories off the cuff

 

[JMurray]

not a teacher

An example:
Romance at short notice was her specialty.
She was good at making up stories off the cuff.

Your example does not suggest to me the meaning you give it.

My first thought is that it's a way of saying that she makes herself available for romantic liaisons of some sort without requiring much in the way of preliminaries.

 

[Mahi93]

not a teacher

An example:
Romance at short notice was her specialty.
She was good at making up stories off the cuff.

Your example does not suggest to me the meaning you give it.

My first thought is that it's a way of saying that she makes herself available for romantic liaisons of some sort without requiring much in the way of preliminaries.

I beg to differ :-D

I wouldn't have had the nerve to put this example here if we hadn't have had the same discussion 50 years ago at school.:-D

Edit: 'Hadn't have had' or 'hadn't had' ... I'm in doubt ?

http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_th...t_notice_was_her_specialty_in_the_open_window
http://arts-literature.blurtit.com/...-of-the-last-line-romance-at-short-notice-was

 

[JMurray]

not a teacher

I was unfamiliar with the Saki short story, clearly an omission on my part, and a citing of the source might have been a good idea in your post. However, the fact that someone who had read the story was still unclear as to the meaning of the sentence, and that the respondent wrote three paragraphs explaining the use of "Romance" in this particular context, tends to support my point. The story was published in 1914 and as is written in your second link: "It used to be quite common to accuse someone of 'romancing' if they told you a tall or improbable story". I feel that this is a very rare use of "romance" in modern English. I've tested the Saki sentence on three people today and they all came up with a meaning similar to the one I proposed.
A knowledge of the Saki story and the time in which it was written, makes the meaning clear. But I stand by my suggestion that without those factors, the sentence would strike many, if not most, contemporary native speakers as having a quite different meaning.

 

[Mahi93]

Thanks for the clarification.

I think there is a problem with the kind of English literature discussed at school here in Belgium.

Even nowadays teachers revert to the classics of the past century for expressions and idioms.

So, for over 50 years I lived with the idea that ‘romancing’ and ‘storytelling’ were common synonyms.

[FONT=&quot]In my mind, I even translate the title of the movie ‘Romancing the Stone’ as ‘The Story of the Stone’ :-([/FONT]

 

[JMurray]

not a teacher

In my mind, I even translate the title of the movie ‘Romancing the Stone’ as ‘The Story of the Stone’.

I haven't seen the film but there does seem to be a bit of discussion online as to what the title means. The famous movie critic Roger Ebert called it an "awkward title" in his generally positive review. The discussions mostly note that the lead female character is a writer of romantic fiction (love stories), there is a romance between the two leads that's central to the plot about a glamorous gemstone, and according to one review Michael Douglas is accused at one point of trying to "romance" the stone away from Kathleen Turner.

 

[Mahi93]

and according to one review Michael Douglas is accused at one point of trying to "romance" the stone away from Kathleen Turner.

I have the movie in my collection, I’ll have another look at it from that angle.

 

[Barb_D]

Maui, the answer to your question is "if we hadn't had."

I share the opinion that "romancing at short notice" is a euphemism for "has sex with people quickly" or that she engages in one-night stands.

 

[Mahi93]

Maui, the answer to your question is "if we hadn't had."

Thanks Barb, somewhere there was a little alarm bell ringing when I wrote down the words but I wasn’t sure.

I share the opinion that "romancing at short notice" is a euphemism for "has sex with people quickly" or that she engages in one-night stands.

I totally agree now, luckily I never used it in a conversation with someone of the opposite sex.

You know, "crawling in a corner in fetus position and so":-D