Anyone else annoyed by...

[nigidivitch]

...the phrase "near miss"?

[boobesque]

my boyfriend hates the phrase to!

[kempie]

No, since it makes perfect sense to me.

A miss could be by a very large distance.
A near miss would be a lot closer.

The expression originated during World War II, when it signified a bomb exploding in the water near enough to a ship to damage its hull.

[jno]

it's a miss... but it was near... so I can cope with it, but I know what you mean.

[bernardo]

Er... no...?  Why should anyone be annoyed by it?

[Dark Angel]

Not particularly,but its like saying, "almost forgot".

[woofgang]

I am forever almost forgetting things and having near misses as a result!! I do hate "quite unique" or "really unique" though

[nigidivitch]

Well, as far as I'm concerned, if I nearly miss something, then I do not infact miss it.  If I nearly hit something, then I miss it.  I understand the semantic reading that one can get to imply that it was a miss and is was "near" rather than "far", but it strikes me as somewhat of a forced reading...

What, for example, would you understand "Near hit" to mean?