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Thu 14 Jan, 2010 10:28 pm
Using plaster casts of footprints, finger prints, and stray strands of hair, a detective "perniciously pursues" the criminal.
I know that" pernicious" means having a very harmful effect or influence, but how do I understand the word in this context?
That's a good question, since it doesn't really make any sense. Society expects detectives to pursue criminals, and it would not ordinarily be thought of as a pernicious activity on the part of the detective. I'd say whoever wrote that was just trying to be clever, and ended by constructing a meaningless sentence, one that makes no sense.
@Setanta,
I wasn't expecting an answer so soon. You are really a great help.
Well, i'm looking around here while i wait for something else to happen online elsewhere, and i saw your question, so i figured i'd give it a shot. I hope i can help you, and of course, others may see this and give you an alternative explanation.
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:I'd say whoever wrote that was just trying to be clever
Or possibly English was not their first language and they really meant another word e.g. "persistently". Lots more context would be so helpful, for example "This is from a crime report in the Huangdong Daily News"
@contrex,
The writer's name is "Earl Rudolph"
Can you tell if he is a native?
@Adverb,
Adverb wrote:Using plaster casts of footprints, finger prints, and stray strands of hair,
a detective "perniciously pursues" the criminal.
I know that "pernicious" means having a very harmful effect
or influence, but how do I understand the word in this context?
From the perspective of the fugitive perpetrator,
the detective 's pursuit was pernicious, iniquitous and abhorrent.
David
@Adverb,
Quote:The writer's name is "Earl Rudolph"
Can you tell if he is a native?
No. It is very common for people of many countries to pick "English sounding" names for use on the web and elsewhere. Spammers do it a lot, often with comical results. More information would help, for example where you saw the text, what it was part of etc.
@contrex,
That's a good point--persistently would make a lot more sense.
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