I asked a person, "Aren't we meeting in next 2 or 3 years?" The person replied saying: "Nothing like that." What does he mean? Will the person will meet me or not?
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1Maybe better ask that person what he meant. – GEdgar May 23 '15 at 14:31
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1It could mean either that the person has no intention of meeting, or no intention of the meeting's being so distant in time. It is also possible that the person is inferring some kind of subtext in your question and denying that. You will simply have to ask that person, not us. – Brian Donovan May 23 '15 at 14:32
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Was the other person a native speaker? It seems an unlikely thing to say in your context. If you'd asked him Shall we meet again in a day or two?, this response could be taken to mean No - maybe in a few weeks or a few months time, but nothing like "within the next couple of days". But for the other way around (No. We'll meet again much sooner than that - nothing like years* from now)* it wouldn't sound very "natural" to me. – FumbleFingers May 23 '15 at 15:11
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No the person is not native speaker. He was Indian. – Ruthvik Vaila May 23 '15 at 15:29
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In that case I suggest that's what the usage "means". It's not up to ELU to speculate on what he intended to convey if he doesn't even speak English fluently. – FumbleFingers May 23 '15 at 16:50
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Being used to the Indian dialect, I am certain that the person meant that both of you will indeed meet again within the next 2-3 years.
Codename
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1I would guess that this person is a native Hindi speaker who directly translated the Hindi reply "Aisi koi baat nahi" to English. So voila, you get "Nothing like that!" – Codename May 23 '15 at 16:36