JB is still a student of English

Today I submitted the last package of all my application materials. So now I have positively ended the whole stuff and are poised to resume my former life. Smile

Oh yes, I yet have way more to enjoy!

No more chat, here are some questions:

1.

Quote:

Barack Obama: Putting faith out front

Does that mean "Obama puts faith AT the front", or "Obama puts faith out OF the front"?

2.

Quote:

Sometimes his eat-your-spinach style of talk flies right in his face, such as during the Michigan primary, when McCain talked down the possibility of regaining jobs. "There are limits to straight talk, and yet for the most part, it really seems to work for him," says Zogby.

"eat-your-spinach"?

3.

Quote:

The Obama campaign fought back right away. In a conference call Tuesday, Obama backer John Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, said, "the bottom line is that Florida does not offer any delegates. It is not a legitimate race. It should not become a spin race. It should not become a fabricated race. It should not become part of the politics the Obama campaign and a lot of us are trying to reject."

What does the "bottom-line" mean here? Why the bottomline is that Florida does not offer any delegates? Note: I may need some lectures on intra-party electoral system here.

Thank you! Smile

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J-B wrote:

Today I submitted the last package of all my application materials. So now I have positively ended the whole stuff and are poised to resume my former life. Oh yes, I yet have way more to enjoy!

No more chat, here are some questions:

1.
Quote:
Barack Obama: Putting faith out front

Does that mean "Obama puts faith AT the front", or "Obama puts faith out OF the front"?

2.
Quote:
Sometimes his eat-your-spinach style of talk flies right in his face, such as during the Michigan primary, when McCain talked down the possibility of regaining jobs. "There are limits to straight talk, and yet for the most part, it really seems to work for him," says Zogby.

"eat-your-spinach"?

3.
Quote:
The Obama campaign fought back right away. In a conference call Tuesday, Obama backer John Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, said, "the bottom line is that Florida does not offer any delegates. It is not a legitimate race. It should not become a spin race. It should not become a fabricated race. It should not become part of the politics the Obama campaign and a lot of us are trying to reject."

What does the "bottom-line" mean here? Why the bottomline is that Florida does not offer any delegates? Note: I may need some lectures on intra-party electoral system here.

Thank you!

1. I think out front here means that he is making it an issue to be talked about, instead of keeping silent about it (out front, instead of behind the scenes...a theatre metaphor, I believe.

2. Talking about facing unpleasant realities because it's good for you to do so, is my guess, with a hint of telling people what to do.

Kids traditionally hate spinach, and parents are forever telling them to "eat it because it's good for you!"

3. I think he is defending Obama for not campaigning in Florida?

(Waiting for a Murrican to comment)

Bottom line meaning that, in the end, campaigning in Florida is a waste of time, even if not doing so offends Floridians.

(I think that's an "eat your spinach" bit of talk!)

Mega congrats JB!!!!!

Hurray!!!!

(BTW...that's "I am poised"........ Embarrassed

)

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Thanks dlowan Smile

long time no see.

About the spinach thing, I thought previously that it had something to do with "Popeye". Haha.

And I think I should have a closer feeling towards the phrase "the bottom line" through more reading. You know, despite your explanation and despite that I "think" I have understood what it means, I still feel unable to really use it myself.

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The bottom line is that you'll use that phrase when you're ready.

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J-B wrote:

Thanks dlowan long time no see.

About the spinach thing, I thought previously that it had something to do with "Popeye". Haha.

And I think I should have a closer feeling towards the phrase "the bottom line" through more reading. You know, despite your explanation and despite that I "think" I have understood what it means, I still feel unable to really use it myself.

Do you mean you feel you have still not understood what "bottom line" in general means, or that you do not understand its use in the example you gave this time?

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Just a note on bottom line. It can be used nowadays just to mean the financial state of a company or institution, I notice.

"VPs are only interested in the bottom line" - in other words, the last line of the accounts where it shows a profit or a loss.

This is nothing to do with the other meaning, so it's here just to pique your interest.

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dlowan wrote:

J-B wrote:
Thanks dlowan long time no see.

About the spinach thing, I thought previously that it had something to do with "Popeye". Haha.

And I think I should have a closer feeling towards the phrase "the bottom line" through more reading. You know, despite your explanation and despite that I "think" I have understood what it means, I still feel unable to really use it myself.

Do you mean you feel you have still not understood what "bottom line" in general means, or that you do not understand its use in the example you gave this time?

I didn't understand it in general means.

But today when I review this phrase it appears perfect to me. haha Very Happy

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"the bottom line" is the final word, the conclusion after everything else has been said. Also, "in the end."

Another colloquial way of saying the same thing is "at the end of the day" referring to the same finality.

As in :

"You can plan all you like but, at the end of the day, it's the worker in the field who will make the difference between success and failure.

"You can plan all you like but, bottom line, it's the worker in the field who will make the difference between success and failure."

"You can plan all you like but, in the end, it's the worker in the field who will make the difference between success and failure."

Joe(that's my bottom line answer)Nation

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the bottom line = the net effect

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bottom line

noun
the lowest line of the earnings report of a company, on which net profit per share of stock is shown
Informal profits or losses, as of a business
Slang
the basic or most important factor, consideration, meaning, etc.
the final or ultimate statement, decision, etc.

bottom line
n.
1. The line in a financial statement that shows net income or loss.

2. The final result or statement; upshot: "The bottom line, however, is that he has escaped" David Wise.

3. The main or essential point: "A lot can happen between now and December, but the bottom linefor nowis that the city is still heading toward default" New York.

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I think I have fully understood it now.

another one.

Why does "cuckoo's nest" means "wards for the mentally ill"? How does the cuckoo bird has anything to do with craziness?

Thank you

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J-B wrote:

I think I have fully understood it now.

another one.

Why does "cuckoo's nest" means "wards for the mentally ill"? How does the cuckoo bird has anything to do with craziness?

Thank you

Well, European cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, and the baby cuckoos push the legitimate babies out of the nest, and the parents labour to raise someone else's chick......so I suppose cuckoos HAD no nests when English was formed......perhaps the "cuckoo's nest" was thus something only a crazy person would believe in???

Or the cuckoo's child-rearing practices were seen as mad?

Cuckoo is used to describe a crazy person....(perhaps because of this behaviour, or because the repeated note sounds sort of daft???) so I wonder if it may have developed as a way of describing where crazy peopel (cuckoos) gathered?

I can find definitions everywhere, but no explanations, so I am guessing!!

Edit:

Here's something:

The cuckoo's habit of laying eggs in the nests of other birds explains why its cry was regarded, in medieval and Elizabethan times, as mocking cuckold husbands ;they would have to bring up another man's child. In folksong, cuckoo's nest is sometimes a term for a woman's genitals.

Cuckoos are also associated with stupidity; in northern dialects ; "gowk" means both "cuckoo" and "fool", and April Fools are often called April Gowks. "You're cuckoo" is still a slangy way of saying "You're crazy". Or it may be the humans who are stupid, as in the old joke about the men of Borrowdale (Westmorland/Cumbria), who are said to have built a wall to imprison the cuckoo, so that summer would never end; the bird flew out, skimming the top, at which one exclaimed, "By gow! If we'd nobbut laid another line o' stanes atop, we'd a copped him." The same is said about the people of Gotham; also of Wing (Leicestershire), which has a pub called the Cuckoo Inn, offering further opportunities for wit.

From Answers.com

Cuckoldry was the source of great concern, interest and cruel humour in older times (and now???) and if cuckoo became connected to cuckold, I can imagine it would have become associated with many pejorative concepts, so from there to "crazy" would be a likely and easy step.

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Ok how about this

Quote:

Three-quarters of a century ago, Universal pictures became what would be the greatest horror film studio with Frankenstein, Dracula, Wolfman, The Mummy, and Creature from the Black Lagoon among others. When it became apparent that each franchise was running its course, the natural thought was to pair their monsters in a showdown. Most prominent was Frankenstein Meets Wolfman. So it is no wonder that a clip from that very film shows up at the beginning of Alien vs. Predator.

What does "run one's course" means? It means same as "functions" or, as I may guess from the context, "runs up one's course"?

Thanks

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To "run its course" is to finish a cycle....beginning, middle, end....birth, life, death....to complete a process from start to finish.

It is analagous to a racecourse, the distance over which a (horse) race is held.

Example: "The patient will not start to regain his strength until after the fever has run its course".

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Thanks, McTag. Smile

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JB is still a student of English

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