Intimate acquaintance?

[Phoo]

I found some sentences in an article in the newspaper today.
These sentences below were in an article about Rumsfeld and Bush.

"Days after saying Rumsfeld would be a fixture for the final two years
of his presidency, Bush ended the storied political career of a man with
an intimate acquaintance of Washington's corridors of power."

Here, what does "intimate acquaintance" mean?
I think "intimate" and "acquaintance" are totally opposite.
How come these two words can come together to make any sense?

Thanks!

[Yankee]

Hi Phoo

The word acquaintance has several meanings. In this context, a good synonym for the word 'acquaintance' would be 'knowledge'. So the article is saying he has 'very personal and detailed knowledge'.

Amy

[Phoo]

OK, "acquaintance" could mean "knowledge". I've got it.
In that case, does this sound natural to you or can I say like this?

" I have a lot of acquaintance of how to train dogs."

[Alan]

Hi Phoo,

Note that Amy gave the definition within your context. I can't see your use in your sentence: 'I have a lot of acquaintance of how to train dogs.' would work in the same way. I think you would have to say: I have a lot of knowledge of how to train dogs/I know a lot about training dogs.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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[Pond969]

Man... what a badly worded sentence.... It's almost a chore to figure out what the writer meant but I would hazard a guess that he should have said 'intimate acquaintance with' ... not 'intimate acquaintance for'.

The two words *can* come together in the right context....

John

[Phoo]

Hi Alan and John, thank you for your comments.

I think I got more confused about those two words. Mmmmm...

Anyway, thanks. I just don't want to think about it anymore now,
rather saty away from those two for a while,
expecting that time will tell ...