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Chris -- 2025-05-10
This is another I heard, it was spoken several years ago…my favorite street preacher used the term to describe one who was universally feared and respected…”everybody was in owe of him.”
I like the way the borrower is in some ways perceived to be lower than the lender…we’re in their debt, we owe them, we’re in owe if them? Can this perception broaden itself in a speaker’s (writer’s) mind to include situations where other inequalities inspire adulation?
Also note these sightings:
www.danielpipes.org/comments/54629“FOR LEAH: the one who is in owe of Islam! and Qur’an 9:29”
www.carolinarealtyguide.com/west-virgin … estate.php“West Virginia is a wonderful and majestic state on the Eastern Seaboard. It has a crisp clean rivers, lakes and streams as well as breathtaking mountains and scenery that will make you stand in owe.
www.zimbabwelight.blogspot.com2009/07/t … -does.html“TSVANGIRAI IS IN OWE OF MUGABE! HE DOES NOT SEEK TO END THE DICTATORSHIP BUT TO SANITIZE IT”
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You could be right, but many people seem to be simply spelling awe as owe – ‘owesome’ and ‘shock and owe’ have hundreds of hits – so I’m not convinced.
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