Recent Posts

1

Language Questions / in Florence the poor wretch had got hold of a Tartar

« Last post by t k on Today at 02:32:16 am »

The fact was that in Florence the poor wretch had got hold of a Tartar, compared with whom Leonora was a sucking kid. He must have had a hell of a time. Leonora wanted to keep him for—what shall I say—for the good of her church, as it were, to show that Catholic women do not lose their men.  (from The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford; a larger context is here; use ctrl-f to locate the sentence)

Please explain "in Florence the poor wretch had got hold of a Tartar".  My best effort only gives "Florence was a poor wretch but she was also harsh and fierce".  Thanks.  --- tk

2

Language Questions / Re: ---- be apologized out of existence

« Last post by admin on November 10, 2018, 06:40:39 pm »

If you apologised enough, they would no longer exist. Folks would have forgotten about them.

Comment: not sure if that would be true L:)

3

Language Questions / Re: many other women

« Last post by admin on November 10, 2018, 06:39:05 pm »

Yes. Both alternatives are fine and mean what you want them to say.

4

Language Questions / many other women

« Last post by azz on November 10, 2018, 10:34:12 am »

Can one use
a. He could have married many women, but he chose you.
instead of
b. There were many women he could have married, but he chose you.
?

Can one use
a. He could have married many other women, but he chose you.
instead of
b. There were many other women he could have married, but he chose you.
?

We're talking in a context where a man can marry only one woman. He couldn't marry more than one woman. But there were many women he could have married.

Many thanks.

5

Language Questions / ---- be apologized out of existence

« Last post by t k on November 10, 2018, 04:16:08 am »

And I verily believe, too, if my suspicion that Leonora was jealous of Florence had been the reason she gave for her outburst I should have turned upon Florence with the maddest kind of rage. Jealousy would have been incurable. But Florence's mere silly jibes at the Irish and at the Catholics could be apologized out of existence. And that I appeared to fix up in two minutes or so.  (from The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford; a larger context is here; use ctrl-f to locate the sentence)

Please explain "be apologized out of existence".  Thanks.  --- tk

6

Language Questions / Re: infinite gulf of the past and the future

« Last post by admin on November 08, 2018, 05:21:44 pm »

Looking at the past and the future - which don't exist - and not at the present (which does)

7

Language Questions / Re: he is pulling the rug from under his own feet

« Last post by admin on November 08, 2018, 05:20:17 pm »

He is being self destructive

8

Language Questions / he is pulling the rug from under his own feet

« Last post by icedisk on November 08, 2018, 01:46:31 pm »

As nature without human intervention, wilderness does not need nature conservation. When an active nature conservationist raves about wilderness, he must be aware that he is pulling the rug from under his own feet because for nature conservationists, wilderness means simply doing nothing. Anyone who wants wilderness in his garden fires his gardener. In many respects, nature conservation is the opposite of wilderness. In many cases, nature conservation requires the protection of a particular state of nature in an area (usually temporary and influenced by humans); but protection from the threat of a different, ‘other nature’. This ‘other nature’ would gain a foothold in the area in question if man did not protect it from the ‘other nature’. In extreme cases, nature conservation means the protection of the nature which dominates in one particular area against the penetration and domination of the wilderness.

Q: What is the meaning of the underlined part?

9

Language Questions / infinite gulf of the past and the future

« Last post by icedisk on November 08, 2018, 12:48:07 pm »

Adjusting to the unbearable persistence of uncertainty may be one of the loftiest accomplishments of human wisdom. In a beautiful passage from Book V of his Meditations, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius — known in the Roman era as “the wise one” — captured something of the uncertain nature of life and how we might respond to it. “Repeatedly, dwell on the swiftness of the passage and departure of things that are and of things that come to be. For substance is like a river in perpetual flux, its activities are in continuous changes, and its causes in myriad varieties, and there is scarcely anything which stands still, even what is near at hand; dwell, too, on the infinite gulf of the past and the future, in which all things vanish away. Then how is he not a fool who in all this is puffed up or distressed or takes it hardly, as if he were in some lasting scene, which has troubled him for long?” Only a fool, in short, would be upset by change .

What's the meaning of the underlined part? It means some people cannot escape from its constraints because of their obsession about past and future, doest it?

10

Language Questions / Re: Would you happen to be...

« Last post by Bertha on November 07, 2018, 11:33:19 am »

When I came across the sentence, the expression "Mr. Livingstone, I presume" also came into my mind, which led me to think "Mr" or "Ms" might be necessary. But I was wrong. Thank you for telling me the
natural way and I am sorry that I used the inappropriate comparison.

Takashi

There is a story behind the expression you cited above.  A doctor and explorer, Dr. David Livingstone, was supposedly lost in the African jungle in his search for the source of the Nile River.  Word got around and a journalist named Henry Stanley was assigned to find him and report the story.  After several months, the search team led by Stanley actually found Dr. Livingstone.  Stanley reported that when he first met Livingstone, he politely said "Dr. Livingstone, I presume" and that expression caught on in the popular culture of the 19th century.  The History Channel has a pretty good story about Stanley and Livingstone's eventual partnership: https://www.history.com/news/when-stanley-met-livingstone