my skin had softened in the contemplative desert air?

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And as I jogged toward my room, I was reminded that in the end we all return to where we started. I had small blisters on my toes, which I learned was because my skin had softened in the contemplative desert air. My whole being had become more sensitive and open.

What does "my skin had softened in the contemplative desert air" mean here?

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Type: Question • Score: 8 • Views: 4,647 • Replies: 62

[+3] - Mame - 12/25/2010You are one of the ugliest-natured people I've seen on here. You speak to most people with the same snide, smug, derogatory tone and it says a lot about you. You are a piece of ****, no matter...

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It's really, really awful writing. I can think of no good reason to describe desert air as contemplative. However, leaving that aside for the moment, it seems that the author is saying that the air of the desert had softened his or her skin. Desert air is usually very, very dry. I guess we're to believe that dry air will soften one's skin. Forget the contemplative part--basically the author is saying desert air softens the skin.

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@Setanta,

Quote:

It's really, really awful writing.

This is a really really really stupid comment. But I must note that it is highly typical of Setanta.

Quote:

I can think of no good reason to describe desert air as contemplative.

I can. The clean desert air is, metaphorically, a place where people go to relax, to recharge, a place where they can think things over, think things through, in short be contemplative.

Note; "My whole being had become more sensitive and open".

Next, Setanta is going to tell us that Shakespeare is really, really awful writing because he can't understand all the passages.

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@JTT,

Air, desert or otherwise, cannot be contemplative, so, as Set said, it is awful writing. It is an idiotic statement.

And JTT is putting some sort of weird spin on this just to spite Set, so don't listen to him.

Here's a definition for you, ok? No wonder you're confused.

con·tem·pla·tive

Pronounced:
/kənˈtɛmplətɪv, ˈkɑ:ntəmˌpleɪtɪv/

Function: adjective
Meaning:
1 [more con*tem*pla*tive; most con*tem*pla*tive] : involving, allowing, or causing deep thought ▪ She's in a contemplative mood today. [=she is quiet and thoughtful today] ▪ He has lived a quiet, contemplative life. ▪ a contemplative book
2 : devoted to religious thought and prayer ▪ She joined a contemplative order of nuns.
—con·tem·pla·tive·ly adverb

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@PennyChan,

PennyChan wrote:

What does "my skin had softened in the contemplative desert air" mean here?

It doesn't mean anything sensible in any context. It's just bad writing.

1 Reply

why does pennychang have a large lemon rind on her head?

I have never seen a lemon that large, so it may be that penny is wearing a normal size lemon rind, and she is simply very very small.

like those girls that controlled mothra.

0 Replies

@PennyChan,

Quote:

contemplative desert

Writers tend to give meanings to inanimate objects. Deserts have given birth to many religions e.g. Judaism, Christainity, Islam, The desert isolates one thus one begins to think of the otherness of life. It is very subjective writing as most authors do, at least the good ones.

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@Mame,

It seems that you can't read, Mame. Even your own sources.

involving, allowing, or causing deep thought

It also seems that your comprehension skills are also somewhat lacking.

Air, desert or otherwise, cannot be contemplative,

Quote:

And as I jogged toward my room, I was reminded that in the end we all return to where we started. I had small blisters on my toes, which I learned was because my skin had softened in the contemplative desert air. My whole being had become more sensitive and open.

It doesn't say that the "air" is contemplating. It says that the desert air/atmosphere easily allows one to fall into a contemplative mood.

I have actually found sitting in the desert highly conducive to a contemplative mood. The air, the atmosphere, the rugged beauty all help one fall into such a frame of mind.

Here are a few examples of what you say can't exist.

"He has his own thing going on with that horn, and it's underscored by a much more contemplative air;"

"Smooth moody jazz with a contemplative air,"

"Many of the songs have a slow, contemplative air, like "Contemplation", "Cedar Creek", and "Baby Steps".

Check your source once more. You'll find, "a contemplative book ". I think that you can figure out that that doesn't suggest a book sitting in an easy chair in front of the fireplace contemplating the meaning of life.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

Quote:

It doesn't mean anything sensible in any context.

If you check my reply to Mame, you'll see that you are mistaken, ehSeth.

Quote:

It's just bad writing.

Yammering on like Setanta doesn't make your suggestion any more sensible, ehBeth.

0 Replies

@PennyChan,

No part of 'contemplative air (desert or otherwise) can be related to skin softening. None.

3 Replies

@roger,

Maybe humans wandering in deserts take on a contemplative mien, that is, conduct themselves with a contemplative air, or maybe even whistle an aire, but the actual air in the desert is not a skin softener. More likely it could be helpful in producing leather like skin. Additionally, air does not think.

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@roger,

Quote:

No part of 'contemplative air (desert or otherwise) can be related to skin softening. None.

The passage doesn't say absolutely it does. The speaker/writer could be making fun of, making light of someone's idea that this was the case.

NOTE, "which I learned was because my skin softened in the contemplative desert air. My whole being had become more sensitive and open."

Y'all are taking this too literally. It could easily have a figurative sense to it. "which I learned" speaks to it being someone else's idea.

0 Replies

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

And as I jogged toward my room, I was reminded that in the end we all return to where we started. I had small blisters on my toes, which I learned was because my skin had softened in the contemplative desert air. My whole being had become more sensitive and open.

Quote:
It's really, really awful writing.

This is a really really really stupid comment. But I must note that it is highly typical of Setanta.

Quote:
I can think of no good reason to describe desert air as contemplative.

I can. The clean desert air is, metaphorically, a place where people go to relax, to recharge, a place where they can think things over, think things through, in short be contemplative.

Note; "My whole being had become more sensitive and open".

Next, Setanta is going to tell us that Shakespeare is really, really awful writing because he can't understand all the passages.

It is awful.... The dumass is right once in a while... Throw him a bone...

1 Reply

@JTT,

Your air of pompous superiority doesn't make you right. It just makes you look like a superior pompous ass.

1 Reply

@Mame,

Your inability to look at the facts marks you as being nowhere near as bright as you have sometimes appeared to be, Mame.

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@Fido,

It's not awful writing because people say it's awful writing. That's a silly excuse used often by Setanta to provide cover for his inability to deal with the language issues.

And now you've tried the same thing, Fido.

1 Reply

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

It's not awful writing because people say it's awful writing. That's a silly excuse used often by Setanta to provide cover for his inability to deal with the language issues.

And now you've tried the same thing, Fido.

You know, J; I have been reading an interesting book examing the Rorschach test as applied to Nazis at Nuremberg... The interesting thing about this test is that it is just pictures, inkblots into which people read object, or images -and what they really read into it is themselves, what they are, how they are feeling, what is important to them, and if they are even rational...... The air isn't contemplative, and to say it is, is cant; and cant should be avoided like rabbies... Clearly, the author has some point in staging the scene in a desert, and just as clearly knows nothing about a desert other wise they would not jog and would not have soft skin... It is incongruous... It does not fit with reality, and because it makes no clear sense one must question it rather than getting beyond it to the ultimate point of the story... It awful... Consider it a commandment: Thou shall not ascribe to animals and elements what are clearly human activities... It is likely the fictional desert air softened the author's brain...

1 Reply

If you have seen the film The Three Amigos you will be aware of the magical properties of the desert air, especially in the scene where the heroes bed down to sleep round the campfire. It can do anything, and there is therefore no reason to doubt it can make you contemplative while it softens your skin.

1 Reply

@roger,

Quote:

No part of 'contemplative air (desert or otherwise) can be related to skin softening. None.

Nowadays we are so inundated with scientific news bytes that we can analyze just about anything. The author might not be of this century or maybe challenged in scientific knowledge. The softening of the skin could be meant weaker thus the blisters.

1 Reply

@Fido,

Quote:

The air isn't contemplative, and to say it is, is cant; and cant should be avoided like rabbies... Clearly, the author has some point in staging the scene in a desert, and just as clearly knows nothing about a desert other wise they would not jog and would not have soft skin... It is incongruous... It does not fit with reality, and because it makes no clear sense one must question it rather than getting beyond it to the ultimate point of the story... It awful...

You reading comprehension skills are as bad as Mame's, Fido. It doesn't say that the air is contemplative.

1 Reply

my skin had softened in the contemplative desert air?

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