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Anyone's guess

Posted by R. Berg on February 28, 2003

In Reply to: Any one's guess? What does it mean? posted by James Briggs on February 28, 2003

: : Water's versatility may ensure its elite status within hydro-electric power stations and flushing toilets, but as a recreational utility, extreme caution is required. Everyone understands the simple joy of dousing Jehovah's Witnesses with a hose, but quite what surfers are doing, bobbing about on 30ft waves, is anyone's guess.

: It means that, unless you are a surfer yourself, you can really have no idea of the pleasure gained from the pastime - or any other pastime come to that. You can only guess at the pleasure and your guess is as good as anyone else.

In the quotation about water and surfing, the information that is anyone's guess is known to some people: it is known to surfers. Sometimes the phrase "anyone's guess" is used when the answer to a question isn't known by anyone. Then it's a dramatic way of saying "unknown." "Why some people have lots of colds and other people don't is anyone's guess."

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