Crossings

Posted by R. Berg on December 07, 2001

In Reply to: Crossings posted by R. Berg on December 07, 2001

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : For non English speakers English is an easy language to learn at a basic level. Afterwards, according to my many non English speaking friends and family, there is 'an enormous mountain to climb'. Some of this is related to the widespread use of Idioms - this site is a good example! There is also the difficulty of not being able to work out from the spelling how a word is pronounced.
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Another small, but very odd, feature is the occasional use of words, which are usually the opposite in meaning, to mean the same thing! An example is 'Up' and 'Down' - obviously opposite until you tell someone to 'slow up' or 'to slow down'. In a similar vein is to 'wind up a company' or to' wind down a company'.
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Over the years I've thought of a few other examples, but I can't remember them now (?old age?). Thus, a little pre-Christmas quiz. How many other such expressions can people contribute?

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : First you chop a tree down, then you chop it up.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : "The house burned down" describes the same event as "The house burned up"--but the connotations are a little different. We think of a house as burning down to the ground or going up in smoke.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Wasn't this part of a Jerry Seinfeld routine: Why do we drive on a parkway and park in a driveway?

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : I don't know about Seinfeld, but George Carlin said something like that.

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : If olive oil is made from olives, and corn oil is made from corn, what then is baby oil made from?

: : : : : : : : : : : : : OK. Here's one concerning housewifery. Why is it dusting the furniture? It's de-dusting the furniture.

: : : : : : : : : : : : Why is that housewifery? Men and underage persons have occasionally been observed carrying dustcloths.

: : : : : : : : : : : In Cricket when you're 'in' you're out and when you're 'out' you're in. Make of that what you will.

: : : : : : : : : : I thought about adding a little disclaimer. But then I thought, nah. If you ever see a husband dusting, please take a picture and post it. Big Foot, the Lost City of Atlantis, and a husband dusting.

: : : : : : : : I'll take that picture next time unless I'm too busy changing a tire, OK?

: : : : : : : : Back to "Ba dum": Dusting furniture is like gutting fish or fleecing a rube. But we devein shrimp, not vein them.

: : : : : : : As a man, I've always wondered why I had to do what's stereotypically expected of me and THEN come home to help the wife with hers.

: : : : : : A well dusted house is a sure sign of a sick mind and a tidy house the sign of a closed one. Leave it untidy and dusty and enjoy.

: : : : : My, my, what have I stirred up! However, only one proper entry so far - the one about cricket. However, it doesn't count because cricket is full of such phrases, like one of the field positions being called 'silly mid-off'. Thus, so far no one has won the Christmas (?Xmas) quiz!

: : : : Since I'm of the convinced opinion that Christmas would either be abolished or moved to July, I believe it inappropriate to dispense gifts to mark this unfortunate event. Long live Oliver Cromwell - pity he died so young.

: : :
: : : In America, when we think of George Washington the first image or pinnacle thought is him on white horse fighting (or for some, crossing the Hudson river). When we say "Lincoln", we think tall hat, beard and fought for to free slaves, Clinton--woman chasing buffoon, Dr. Martin Luther King---I had a dream speech, etc..what is the immediate image/thought of Oliver Cromwell across the pond?

: : A guy with a big nose and lots of warts!

: A minor geographical note: Americans not blessed with the unique perspective of New Yorkers often call that river the Potomac.

Or, even more often, the Delaware.

Crossings Barney 12/08/01
- Crossings ESC 12/11/01
  - Crossings Barney 12/11/01