your mileage may vary
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency requires a set of standard emissions tests on all new vehicles which simulate city and highway driving. Part of the test measures estimated city and highway gas mileage estimates. Since no test can exactly simulate all driving habits and conditions, actual gas mileage of each vehicle will vary. As a result, when these estimated mileage claims from automobile manufacturers appear in advertisements, they are almost always accompanied with the standard disclaimer "your mileage may vary."
When used in discussions and forums on the internet, this expression will frequently abbreviated as YMMV.
[edit] Idiom
- (idiomatic): It may work differently in your situation, or be different in your experience.
- (idiomatic): To express a possible difference in taste, "this is just my opinion, your opinion may be different".
- It's a very popular name. For that reason alone I wouldn't choose it. It's 'trendy'. Your mileage may vary, of course.
