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Someone who is not a native English speaker wrote this in an email to me. I didn't get it clearly in the beginning, so I just asked for the meaning and he replied back he meant "he answered immediately".

Later I searched a little bit on the online dictionaries, and I got the feeling that "he answered zip" is more closer to "he answered nothing". So my first question is what's the actual meaning of "he answered zip"?

Despite the fact it was my first time I saw such a combination, is that a common phrase or not? Is that even correct? And if it is correct, does that carrying a positive message or negative?

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up vote 1 down vote accepted

It's just a playful Americanism (now dated) meaning absolutely nothing - probably coined because it alliterates with zero and zilch.

It tends to connote a complete absence of something expected.

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Other words for "nothing" are zero, zip, nada, zilch,... These are usually used to convey emphasis. It's odd that a non-native speaker would use that word.

And it could mean: "He gave no answer" (answered nothing), or "he answered, "Nothing".

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