Is it "All told" or "All totaled?

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Is it "All told" or "All totaled?I are a engineer. What's your excuse?"All told, the world output of CO2 is about 22 billion tons each year, says Columbia University professor Klaus Lackner."From the Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2004

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Is it "All told" or "All totaled? I are a engineer. What's your excuse?[/nq]
I be a lawyuh. But don't tell anyone.
[nq:1]"All told, the world output of CO2 is about 22 billion tons each year, says Columbia University professor Klaus Lackner." From the Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2004[/nq]
It's "all told," which is an idiom meaning "all counted" or "taking all into account." You can look it up at:
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=all+told

http://www.bartleby.com/68/90/290.html or
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861685337

"All totaled" has a clear enough meaning, but it's not the standard phrase.

Bob Lieblich
Idiom's delight

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Is it "All told" or "All totaled? I are a engineer. What's your excuse? "All told, the world output of CO2 is about 22 billion tons each year, says Columbia University professor Klaus Lackner." From the Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2004[/nq]
"All told" is fine.
"In total" would also work.
From a mathematical viewpoint the initial phrase is unnecessary - "the world output" says everything that needs to be said.
The initial phrase simply adds emphasis.

Peter Duncanson
UK
(posting from a.e.u)

Usenet · Answer

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861685337
[nq:1]"All totaled" has a clear enough meaning, but it's not the standard phrase.[/nq]
Not so much an idiom as a usage, now less familiar than it used to be, of the verb 'tell' meaning 'to count'. Although we still have the noun 'teller' for one who counts votes or for a bank clerk and the religious will tell their beads.
'Told' is simply the past tense so 'all told' means 'all counted' or 'having counted everything'.
4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shallnot be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven,and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
Or Dickie Three :
I hope my holy humour will change; 'twas wont to hold me but while one would tell twenty.
If you like, we could argue whether a clock which 'tells the time' is announcing or counting.

John Dean
Oxford

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"John Dean" (Email Removed) schrieb im Newsbeitrag
[nq:2]I be a lawyuh. But don't tell anyone. It's "all ... account." You can look it up at: http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=all+told http://www.bartleby.com/68/90/290.html or[/nq]
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861685337
[nq:2]"All totaled" has a clear enough meaning, but it's not the standard phrase.[/nq]
[nq:1]Not so much an idiom as a usage, now less familiar than it used to be, of the verb 'tell' ... would tell twenty. If you like, we could argue whether a clock which 'tells the time' is announcing or counting.[/nq]
Tricky one, that; we use phrases like "My watch says it's 9 o'clock." I'd be interested to know how that came about.
Related to "tell" in the sense of counting, we have the word "tally". I wonder if "till" is related in the same way. Anyone?

The German for "to count" is "zählen" /'tse:l@n/, which is cognate. Interestingly, "to tell" (in the sense of: "to tell a story") is "erzählen" i.e., the verb "zählen" with the inseparable prefix "er-". In English, we have the synonym "to recount" (stress on the second syllable), and we can also give an "account" of (for example) our movements on the evening of Wednesday last.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]we can also give an "account" of (for example) our movements on the evening of Wednesday last.[/nq]
Really? I've been waiting for permission. So, here goes:

The first bit was hard, and wider than I am used to, but after that it became easy. The last 130g positively rushed out, barely containing any solids at all.

Redwine
Hamburg
(previously: Berlin, Northants, Derbs, Staffs, NSW, Tasmania, Melbourne, rural Victoria, in that and many other orders)

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"Professor Redwine" (Email Removed) schrieb im Newsbeitrag
[nq:2]we can also give an "account" of (for example) our movements on the evening of Wednesday last.[/nq]
[nq:1]Really? I've been waiting for permission. So, here goes: The first bit was hard, and wider than I am used to, but after that it became easy. The last 130g positively rushed out, barely containing any solids at all.[/nq]
I've always wondered why your face looks like that. You should consider changing your diet.

Is it "All told" or "All totaled?

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