The spitting image of someone is their exact lookalike: he's the spitting image of his father. It's about appearance: face, features, smile. The word spitting can be confusing, but nobody thinks about spitting here; the phrase is understood as a whole. It sounds conversational and warm, the kind of thing relatives say over childhood photos.
When would you say the spitting image of?
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be + the spitting image of + person; the spitting image of + his/her + mother/father
- With her red hair and freckles, Mia is the spitting image of her grandmother.
- Our new neighbour is the spitting image of an actor from my favourite TV series.
- Look at this old photo: you're the spitting image of your dad at twenty.
What changed
First versionEveryone says my son is a copy of his father.
RevisionEveryone says my son is the spitting image of his father.
A copy of his father may seem a natural way to put it, but in English a copy is a copy of a document or a book, and people aren't described that way. So a copy of was replaced with the fixed phrase the spitting image of.
The closest phrase with copy is a carbon copy, originally a copy made with carbon paper: She's a carbon copy of her mother. But carbon copy is broader: people use it about a similar character or manner, and even about things: The new phone is a carbon copy of last year's model. Spitting image is about a person's looks.
Your turn
Everyone at the wedding said the groom was ___ his father: the same eyes, the same smile.
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the spitting image of — The guests noticed the same face: the same eyes, the same smile. That's a striking physical likeness, the spitting image of. Similar with has the wrong preposition (it should be similar to), and anyway it just means alike, without the force of an exact lookalike.
Write about a member of your family who looks like another relative. Name two features they share.
My niece is the spitting image of my mother: she has the same green eyes and the same curly hair.
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