What is the origin of the saying ' by a long chalk ' ?

Answer 1

This mainly British expression means “not by any means”, “not at all” and often turns up in conventional expressions such as they weren’t beaten yet, not by a long chalk.

It goes back to the days in which a count or score of almost any kind was marked up on a convenient surface using chalk. At a pub or ale house this might be a note of the amount of credit you had been given (often called the chalk in the early nineteenth century), which Charles Dickens refers to in Great Expectations: “There was a bar at the Jolly Bargemen, with some alarmingly long chalk scores in it on the wall at the side of the door, which seemed to me to be never paid off.”

Answer 2

its origin is "the use of chalk for reckoning points in tavern games." See below.

: : "Whether it was suggested by a difficult long shot attempted in archery or shooting isn't known, but the expression 'a long shot' first arose in British racing circles some 128 years ago as a bet laid at large odds, a bold wager. NOT BY A LONG SHOT therefore means hopelessly out of reckoning. Attempts have been made to derive the saying from the slightly earlier NOT BY A LONG CHALK, which comes from the use of chalk for reckoning points in tavern games. But 'not by a long chalk' means 'not by much,' so it seems that the phrase (long shot) derives from either archery or shooting." From "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).

:
: Chalk: I beat him by a long chalk signifies a good win over an opponent and comes from the days before lead pencils were common. In schools, merit marks were made with chalk; the longer the mark, the more meritorious the receiver.

Now I'm confused. Could we be talking about two different phrases with different origins? Here are the entries from "Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable" revised by Adrian Room (HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1999, Sixteenth Edition):

BY A LONG CHALK - By far; easily. The allusion is to the custom of making merit marks with chalk, before lead pencils were common. See also NOT BY A LONG CHALK.

NOT BY A LONG CHALK - Not by any means; in no way. The allusion is probably to the chalk marks made on a floor to record the score of a player or team. A 'long chalk' would mean a high score. See also BY A LONG CHALK

Answer 3

Not by a long chalk" means "not by much" and its origin is the use of chalk for reckoning points in tavern games. Whether it was suggested by a difficult long shot attempted in archery or shooting isn't known, but the expression 'a long shot' first arose in British racing circles some 128 years ago as a bet laid at large odds, a bold wager. The term "not by a long shot" therefore means hopelessly out of reckoning. Attempts have been made to claim that the expression derives from the slightly earlier "not by a long chalk", which comes from the use of chalk for reckoning points in tavern games. But 'not by a long chalk' means 'not by much,' so it seems that the phrase (long shot) derives from either archery or shooting.

A further suggestion is that " I beat him by a long chalk" signifies a good win over an opponent and comes from the days before lead pencils were common. In schools, merit marks were made with chalk; the longer the mark, the more meritorious the receiver.

Answer 4

dont know the origin but its a saying that has been used for many years

Answer 5

I've never heard that expression. The only thing close that I've heard is "not by a long shot".