Par

Question

Does 'to be on par with' mean 'to be equal to'?

Paco2004 · Accepted Answer

Hello Mav

Yes "be on a par with" is "be equal (in value) to".

paco

Maverick88 · Answer

Hi Paco

I googled them and found out:
be on a par with -- 30,200 hits
be on par with -- 54700 hits

Is the majotiry ungrammatical?

Paco2004 · Answer

Hello Mav

After I posted the reply to you, I myself googled 'on a/- par with' and found the result you are showing. I am really embarrassed with it. OED gives only 'on a par with'

1. a. Equality of value or standing; an equal footing, a level. Now chiefly in phr. on or upon a par.

1662 Petty Taxes 26 A natural par between land and labour. 1672 I Pol. Anat. (1691) 63 The most important [is] to make a Par and Equation between Lands and Labour, so as to express the Value of any thing by either alone. 1706 Phillips s.v., To be at Par, i.e. to be equal. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 255 Thus matters were brought to a par, and victory stood hovering o're the illustrious combatants. 1726 Swift Gulliver i. iii, The rest of the great officers are much upon a par. 1741 Monro Anat. (ed. 3) 16 The Renewal and Waste keeping pretty near par in adult middle Age. 1753 A. Murphy Gray's-Inn Jrnl. No. 61 II. 53 It will..set the Ladies upon a Par with the Men. 1761–2 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) III. App. iii. 629 Industry ... increased as fast as gold and silver, and kept commodities nearly at a par with money. 1802 H. Martin Helen of Glenross II. 211 Lord Dorville is almost at par with you. 1832 I. Taylor Saturday Even. 481 All are to beseem themselves as if all were on a par. 1850 W. Irving Goldsmith xv. 181 Elevated almost to a par with his idol. 1873 Burton Hist. Scot. V. lxiii. 404 Something near to par with what Scotland had to render in return. 1876 Mozley Univ. Serm. v. 120 The rights of natural society are not to be put upon a par with the rude ideas of early ages.

3. a. An average or normal amount, quality, degree, or condition. on a par, on an average.

1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric. 5 Nov. an. 1775, From five bushels of malt, I find, are brewed, on a par, forty-four gallons of strong, and eighty of small. 1796 W. Marshall W. England I. 12 Taking the par of years, we may fairly place West Devonshire ten days or a fortnight behind the Midland District. 1805 Forsyth Beauties Scot. (1806) IV. 255 The nominal farms+contain on a par about+ninety acres within the head dike, and about 250 acres of moor or hill lands. 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 382 A very small sacrifice of this sort would bring good clover and rye grass to the par of old turf. 1863 Fitzroy Weather Bk. 15 note, Its [the barometer's] average height being 29·95 inches at the mean sea level in England on the London parallel of latitude; which height may be called ‘par’ for that level. Ibid. 323 The barometer had risen ...but not to its normal or par height.

I would like to hear opinions about 'on par with' from Mr P and American moderators.

paco

Nona the brit · Answer

Brit is on a par with

but we also have a phrase 'on par for course' which sort of means on target.

We also say 'that's on par for the course' which means that is what we expected.

Paco2004 · Answer

Hello Nona

Thank you for the kind follow-up as usual. 'On par for course' is a phrase new to me. I've to learn more.

paco

Nona the brit · Answer

Presumably these phrases come from golf.

Paco2004 · Answer

Hello Mav and Nona

On a par with/On par with
COM domain : 251,000/435,000
EDU domain : 32,000/33,800
UK domain : 79,100/21,500

I wouldn't say COM users are less literate than UK users.

paco

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