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SPLIT SECOND

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on August 12, 2005

In Reply to: SPLIT SECOND posted by KAY on August 12, 2005

: IS "SPLIT SECOND" AN IDIOM? IF SO WHERE AND WHEN DID IT ORIGINATE FROM?

Yes, it's an idiom. It simply means "part of a second", and originated more than 40 years ago (I remember it in my childhood)when a second was the shortest period of time that could practicably be measured, and the idea of "less than a second" was quite far-fetched. Now of course we have the technology to measure nano-seconds, so a "split second" isn't a startlingly short time at all any more.

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