[bartbes]

Should probably resync the title to the article, I'm guessing the guardian realised a "near miss" is a hit.

[eterm]

near miss

noun

noun: near miss; plural noun: near misses

    1. a narrowly avoided collision or other accident.
    "she had a near miss when her horse was nearly sucked into a dyke"

    2.   a bomb or shot that just misses its target.
    "he had escaped more than twenty near misses"

In no definition is "near miss" a hit, even taking it "literally" near is adjective for the noun miss, so it is a miss that is near. i.e, a miss where two bodies are close but don't hit.

[slazaro]

It's one of those expressions that means the opposite of what you'd think if it was the first time you came across it. Like "could care less".

[solaris999]

"could care less" only exists out of misappropriation of the original idiom though, which is "couldn't care less" - a phrase which makes far more sense.

[mlonkibjuyhv]

But it's used in the sense "too close and not within acceptable margins". It's not a collision, but one might just as well think of it as a "hit" - someone messed up.

[emilssolmanis]

In any definition, a near miss is a hit. A "near hit" would be what you're looking for...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDKdvTecYAM

[danparsonson]

"Near miss" isn't "nearly a miss" - it's a miss where both parties were near each other. "Near hit" may actually make more logical sense though.

[wlkr]

Not in any definition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_miss_%28safety%29

[coldtea]

"near miss" just means "that was close", or "we almost didn't miss" -- in other words, "we missed, but we were pretty damn close and could have collided".

It doesn't mean "nearly missed, but actually hit" -- check any dictionary.

[sjcsjc]

Reminds me of a trick question my late father used to ask us as kids: "would you rather be nearly saved or nearly drowned?"