bring along on a notch or two

English translation: makes everyone else improve a bit also

10:20 Mar 10, 2016
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
English term or phrase: bring along on a notch or two
Hello everyone,

About 2 great hurdlers who were rivals: Ed Moses and Danny Harris.

Sometimes you have these world class leaders who drag everybody else along with them in their vortex. Breaking that sound barrier brought everybody else along on a notch or two.

Does "bring everybody else along on a notch or two" mean that after their rivalry ended the rest of the hurdlers can perform better?

Thank you.
Mikhail Korolev
Local time: 16:38
Selected answer:makes everyone else improve a bit also
Explanation:
imo

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Note added at 6 mins (2016-03-10 10:27:21 GMT)
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"a notch" usually refers to a mark to show quantity of some sort...eg a notch on a gun=how many killed, a notch on a bed post how many women (or men!) you've had sex withand so on
In this context these 2 hurdlers are just so good that it makes everyone else up their game (=improve) in order to give any sort of competition at all
Selected response from:

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 13:38
Grading comment
Many thanks to everyone.

Thank you, Gallagy.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +5makes everyone else improve a bit also
Yvonne Gallagher
2 +1inspired others to improve themselves
Jonathan MacKerron


  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +1
inspired others to improve themselves


Explanation:
"a notch or two" = a little bit/to a certain extent

Jonathan MacKerron
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 37

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Cilian O'Tuama: though I'm more familiar with "bring UP a notch or two"
10 mins
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3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
makes everyone else improve a bit also


Explanation:
imo

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 mins (2016-03-10 10:27:21 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"a notch" usually refers to a mark to show quantity of some sort...eg a notch on a gun=how many killed, a notch on a bed post how many women (or men!) you've had sex withand so on
In this context these 2 hurdlers are just so good that it makes everyone else up their game (=improve) in order to give any sort of competition at all

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 13:38
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 651
Grading comment
Many thanks to everyone.

Thank you, Gallagy.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mark Nathan: Raises the general standard
13 mins
  -> Many thanks:-). Yes, the overall standard of competitors improves

agree  Sheri P
2 hrs
  -> Many thanks:-) . "brings everyone up a level" another way of expressing this

agree  philgoddard: "Along on" doesn't make sense to me. It should be one or the other, but not both.
2 hrs
  -> Thanks! You're right. It should be just "bring along" OR "bring up a notch"

agree  Jean-Claude Gouin: I'm more familiar with "bring UP a notch or two" ...
13 hrs
  -> Thanks! But "bring along" is also used. Here the writer seems to have confused the two

agree  Yasutomo Kanazawa
23 hrs
  -> Many thanks:-)
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