Weather report?

Posted by R. Berg on November 15, 2008 at 02:02

In Reply to: Weather report? posted by Ania Halicka on November 14, 2008 at 09:52:

: Has anyone ever heard the phrase "Weather report?" (with a rising intonation as in a question)? I THINK it may be a request to be updated/briefed about the events that took place while the enquirer was absent. I am not sure, though, as I am not a native speaker of English. Can you enlighten me, please?

Your guess is reasonable, especially as you know the context in which the person was speaking. Possibly the person was literally asking about the weather, but "Weather report?" might be a request for information that he or she missed. I would take it as a request to be told particularly about people's moods. For example, if you went to a meeting, someone who wasn't there might ask later whether those who attended seemed to favor one proposal or another. Were they angry, were they pleased, and so on. ~rb