[라이브 아카데미] "for all I know" - 직역과 많이 다른 실제 의미 ⏰ 2분영어

Okay today I'm just here to show you something very quickly

What do you think it means when someone says "For all I know"?

E.g. For all I know she could have been in her fifties.

 

This is one of those expressions where you can't rely on its direct translation from English to Korean.

Because when you hear this sentence, when you look at this sentence, it kind of sounds like...

I'm saying that I have a lot of knowledge and based on all that knowledge, she could have been in her 50s

so this is a very good guess.

But, in fact, it means the exact opposite.

"For all i know" actually means I don't know.

I have very little, if not, no knowledge at all

So this is not even a guess.

"She could have been in her 50s" is just saying she could have been any age. Okay?

 

So just to give you some context.

Let's say that you're asking me about someone that I met just once very briefly, and you're asking me about her

age.

A: "So how old was she?"

B: "I don't know! She was wearing a mask and sunglasses, it sounded like she may have been in her early or mid-thirties, but, for all I know, she could have been in her fifties."

Judging by the way she spoke, it sounded like she may have been in her early or mid-thirties.

 

So, "For all I know" = "I don't know, I have no idea!"

The knowledge I have, the information I had, was very little to none because of that very limited knowledge she could have been any other age.

 

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Reference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2BmUhXHgtY&ab_channel=%EB%9D%BC%EC%9D%B4%EB%B8%8C%EC%95%84%EC%B9%B4%EB%8D%B0%EB%AF%B8