least/asbestos

Question

Let's face it, no one handIes this weII. Least of aII you.

I hope their check clears before they find the crack in the foundation and the asbestos in the ceiIing.

Can anyone paraphrase least of all you ? You all handled terribly? Where did this usage come from?

What does asbestos refer to? Just some kind of chamical material?

Thank you.

BarbaraPA · Accepted Answer

"least of all you" means that of all the people who do X, some won't do it well, and you do it more poorly than all of them... at least in this case, which means how they do when things are going badly - handle things. So "you" handle things very poorly.

(It can also be used in a complimentary sense - if what you do NOT do is something that is not a good thing to do. For example, some people will get really stressed out, but some don't - least of all you. This means that you stay very calm in a crisis.)

Asbestos is a material that was used to prevent the spreading of fires and has since been found out to be linked to a lung disease. Because it breaks into little pieces when touched, it's VERY difficult to safely remove, and if you have a building that has asbestos in it, it will be extremely expensive to have it removed.

I little more context would have helped, but it sounds like someone has sold a building that has problems and they are hoping the will collect the money from the people who bought it before the buyers realize the buildling has all these problems.

(As a side note, in the U.S., it would be illegal to sell a building with asbestos [or the cracks] without disclosing this information to the buyer.)

Kanonathena · Answer

So do you mean "you" refers to a group of people instead of single "you"?

Why did you say asbestos is hard to be removed safely? Do people build wall entirely using asbestos so it runs the risk of collapse due to its brittle nature?

ps Is brittle used correctly here?

BarbaraPA · Answer

No, the you is one person. [least of all] [you] not [least of] [all you].

Least of all means "of all these people, the person to be named next is [this thing we're talking about] less than anyone." You can say "least of all, Jim" if we are talking about Jim and he is usually very bad at this.

You can Google asbestos for more information, but what makes it dangerous is that it is so friable, which means it breaks into tiny, tiny pieces, and that's what gets in your lungs and causes problems. So to remove it, the people working on it must have respirators and the area must be enclosed so none of it "escapes" to be a danger to others who are in the area, and it all has to be collected and disposed of safely.

The wall isn't made of asbestos - it's not a strong material. It has asbestos as a filler, to prevent the spread of fires. But yes, you used "brittle" correctly.

Kanonathena · Answer

Your explanation is very detailed, thank you.

least/asbestos

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