Today our first grandchild is home (she's two month's old). Welcome home, Kaitlyn!!
At breakfast I mentioned that in her latest movie, Meryl Streep looks very much like Margaret Thatcher..the split image of the then British Prime Minister. June (my wife) said the phrase should be "spit image". Wow, I was caught there for a second and insisted that split image was the correct term.
A search in contemporary English dictionaries reveal that "spitting image" was the more likely, and correct idiom for "someone who looks exactly like another person" [Macmillan English Dictionary]. "Split image" was not mentioned at all in all the dictionaries available in my library.
However, for fear that I might be splitting hairs or spitting in disgust over which is the correct phrase, those interested in a discussion on the origin of the above phrases, the following websites should be enlightening:
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8509/spitting-image-or-splitting-image
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/spitting-image.html
There is even an amusing webpage http://www.splitting-images.com/celebrity_list.html on clones of your favourite personalitites.
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This is the first time I've heard of split or spit images! It brings to mind another Malaysian favourite - "calculative" as in " She's so calculative, she split the bill down to the last 5 sen." You won't find the word in your standard English dictionary; instead you'll find "calculating". Try telling your friends that.
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