Sensible by half

[nq:1]Hello Could someone please help me with this expression that I have comeacross? In a sentence someone was being described as being "far too sensibleby half". What would this idiom mean? Why the need for "by half"? Andthe half of what?[/nq]
It's just a pseudo-mathematical way of saying "too sensible". It means "50 percent more sensible than they should be". In my opinion, the "far" should

[nq:1]Could someone please help me with this expression that I have come across? In a sentence someone was being described as being "far too sensible by half". What would this idiom mean?[/nq]
Even a dictionary can tell you that, but "by half" basically just means "by an excessive amount". I suspect "Far too X by half" is a conflation of two separate idioms: "Far too X" and "Too X by half" (th

[nq:1]Obaue: Is there a name for this rhetorical figure of being overly specific?[/nq]
It's not just "overly" specific though, it's "faux-specific". Nine times out of ten, the numbers are just made up.

[nq:2]Hello Could someone please help me with this expression that ... the need for "by half"? And the half of what?[/nq]
[nq:1]It's just a pseudo-mathematical way of saying "too sensible". It means "50 percent more sensible than they should be". In my opinion, the "far" shouldn't be there (or the description should just be "far too sensible" without the half).[/nq]
I recollect Flashy, in

[nq:2]Obaue: Is there a name for this rhetorical figure of being overly specific?[/nq]
[nq:1]It's not just "overly" specific though, it's "faux-specific". Nine times out of ten, the numbers are just made up.[/nq]
You sure it's not 99 out of 100?

dg (domain=ccwebster)

[nq:1]Could someone please help me with this expression that I have come across? In a sentence someone was being described as being "far too sensible by half". What would this idiom mean? Why the need for "by half"? And thehalf of what?[/nq]
This is not peculiar to any one adjective.
Too X by half
is a common and ancient British usage meaning
excessively X.

Don Phillipson

(snip)
[nq:1]FWIW, the most common "by half" phrase is almost certainly "too clever by half".[/nq]
Another connotation of "by half" is "so excessive that it negates the advantage". Someone who is "too clever by half" is so excessively clever as to trip himself up by trying to outwit others: "too clever for his own good".

Chris Green

[nq:2]FWIW, the most common "by half" phrase is almost certainly "too clever byhalf".[/nq]
[nq:1]Another connotation of "by half" is "so excessive that it negates the advantage".[/nq]
But surely the word 'excessive' itself implies disadvantage (it normally means 'greater than the ideal amount')?
It's hard to imagine calling someone "excessively clever" without some implication that it'

Yeah, but it could be only slightly excessive, not enough to ruin everything. I think what Christopher said made sense, "so excessive that it negates the advantage." Really negates it, reverses it, wipes it out, not merely detracts or interferes a little.
If you're baking muffins (US) and a few drops of batter scatter on the flat part of the baking tin, that's an excess that doesn't cause a bi

Not exactly: excess may merely go to waste (as in the oft-repeated claim that Americans' fondness for "supplements" results in us having the world's most expensive urine).
An excess that vitiates the advantage is a different kind of excess that may be useful to distinguish.

Chris Green