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What does "A touch out of key" mean? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Diogo Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 5382 days ago 19 posts - 20 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: Italian | Message 1 of 6 31 January 2013 at 12:33am | IP Logged |
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I've listened to it on a song (Underoath - Desperate Times Desperate Measures). I've tried googling it but had no luck (it seems like the band created the phrase, because most links were related to the lyrics).
It's American English. What does it mean? Thank you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| LaughingChimp Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4509 days ago 346 posts - 594 votes  Speaks: Czech* | Message 2 of 6 31 January 2013 at 1:03am | IP Logged |
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It doesn't mean anything unexpected, I think.
a touch = a tiny bit, very little out of key = out of tune 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 meramarina Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5777 days ago 1341 posts - 2303 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Italian, French Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 6 31 January 2013 at 1:33am | IP Logged |
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This sounds most natural to me as "a little off-key"
It can refer to music or also to any general perception of something. It's understandable even with a little artistic license applied to the phrase. It is not common as expressed here, but there would likely be no problem using it in conversation or writing. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Diogo Diglot Newbie Brazil Joined 5382 days ago 19 posts - 20 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: Italian | Message 4 of 6 31 January 2013 at 1:40am | IP Logged |
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It makes sense now. I thought it was an idiom.
Thank you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Sandman Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5218 days ago 168 posts - 389 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Japanese | Message 5 of 6 03 February 2013 at 11:55am | IP Logged |
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Sounds like it might be tongue in cheek, with the "a touch" meaning that it's referring to something REALLY out of key. If it's an idiom though, I haven't heard it before.
1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6513 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 6 04 February 2013 at 12:05pm | IP Logged |
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I would probably have used "tad" instead of "touch", but it is the same construction. Besides both "a touch of" and "out of key" (= offkey) are quite common so the original line is just an unexpected and creative cross between two venerable old expressions. Whether it represents some lowkey ironic intention is hard to say. Edited by Iversen on 04 February 2013 at 12:17pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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