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I't in the elements (second question)

Posted by Henry on April 25, 2004

In Reply to: I't in the elements (second question) posted by Miri Barak on April 24, 2004

: : Context (a film)

: : "The soldiers had problems with their last dog, but Rain lets them know there will be *no dissension in the ranks"*.

: : It is said about a dog (Rain) who participated in fighting and he is introduced to his new squad.
: : They had some problems with the last dog, and this one makes something clear, but what exactly?
: : and what does they mean in the ranks?

: : thank you very much!

: I have one more question:
: The series I'm translating is wild on set, animals participating in films.
: The chapter's name is "it's in the elements".
: I cannot translate it because I don't quite understand it. the elements I know refer to nature, but what does this combination: "it' in the elements" mean?

: Most grateful to you

Dissension in the ranks
Soldiers line up in ranks, side by side, and files, one behind another. The "rank and file" means ordinary soldiers or, in a civilian organisation, ordinary working people. Dissension in the ranks is argument among the workers, bad in a working team of men or dogs.

It's in the elements
The "elements" may well mean the weather. It may mean "According to the weather" or "Depending upon the weather".
A creature in its element would be one in the habitat it is adapted to - a polar bear on an ice sheet, for example.

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