my skin had softened in the contemplative desert air?

@PennyChan,

PennyChan 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.

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

Obviously this writer felt contemplative while in the desert, hence he forgot all about time and his toes got blistered. HOWEVER, desert air would be more likely to TOUGHEN rather than soften one's skin, one would think; therefore, that part of it doesn't make sense. I also wouldn't think a desert would be where you would go to contemplate, or that it would make you contemplative; rather, one would go somewhere less arid, less sandy, where there might be a breeze, where you might not get a sunburn or blisters, where you might not crave a drink. That's what's stupid about it. And I doubt very much he'd be jogging with blistered toes.

2 Replies

@talk72000,

Listen, petunia, some of us live in desert air, and you tool about authors who might not be of this century.

1 Reply

@Mame,

Quote:

Obviously this writer felt contemplative while in the desert

So you now admit that you were mistaken.

Quote:

HOWEVER, desert air would be more likely to TOUGHEN rather than soften one's skin, one would think; therefore, that part of it doesn't make sense.

The part that doesn't make any sense is you trying to analyze what the passage says.

Quote:

which I learned [FROM SOMEBODY] was because my skin had softened in the contemplative desert air.

Quote:

I also wouldn't think a desert would be where you would go to contemplate, or that it would make you contemplative; rather, one would go somewhere less arid, less sandy, where there might be a breeze, where you might not get a sunburn or blisters, where you might not crave a drink. That's what's stupid about it.

If you would bother to contemplate your arrant nonsense for a few seconds, you might realize that the desert is not always hot and that it has breezes.

If you were to contemplate your brainless meanderings for a brief moment, you would realize that it isn't Mame who decides where people might wish to contemplate.

You would also realize that this same brainless wonder just allowed in her first sentence of her most inane post to date that "[O]bviously this writer felt contemplative while in the desert".

Quote:

And I doubt very much he'd be jogging with blistered toes.

You aren't that familiar with runners either, are you?

1 Reply

@Mame,

I'll argue with you, mame, to the extent that some go to deserts to contemplate.

Don't make me look all that up.

Whatever. Skin didn't soften.

I suppose that in major desert territories there are a lot of sardonic or sarcastic knocks re people found wandering past the tourist points.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

Quote:

I'll argue with you, mame, to the extent that some go to deserts to contemplate.

Sure, but it is obviously the sand that is contemplative.

2 Replies

@maxdancona,

No, no, no. Contemplative is what you are like when you keel over in the 120 degree heat.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

Hang on while I contemplate what both of you have said, far, far from a desert. I think I need some chocolate bacon to do this right.

2 Replies

@Mame,

You may be confusing desert with dessert.

1 Reply

@Mame,

Passing the hash browns..

2 Replies

@maxdancona,

There's no contemplative air where I live. It's all just freezing and snow. I NEED that chocolate bacon!

0 Replies

@ossobuco,

I'll just pass them by, thanks.

0 Replies

@ossobuco,

I actually agreed with mame back there when I argued but didn't have time to edit.
I suppose this weakens my argument.

Oh, wait, where is my argument?

Well, here - desert air doesn't soften.skin.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

No, it dries it out like leather. I've seen people down there Smile

Nothing personal intended, of course! LOL

2 Replies

@Mame,

I guess you're right. Evena contemplative ambiance doesn't soften skin all that much.

0 Replies

@Mame,

You brat, I said that first..

Penny, we don't mean to demolish your thread. You can tell we like it.
We'll explain at points we lose you, if you ask.

We are not making fun of you, but playing.
I think that we dare do this on a thread of yours is a clue that we all like you and think you are smart.

0 Replies

@maxdancona,

..smiles.

all that lambent sand..

0 Replies

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

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.

It wasn't making her contemplative... It was contemplative... Cotemplative air??? Give me a goddamned break.

0 Replies

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

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.

The contemplative desert air does not say the air is contemplative??? you need a reading comp test... It was always a 4 point for me..

1 Reply

@Fido,

Quote:

The contemplative desert air does not say the air is contemplative???

No, it most certsainly does not. Fido. That would be completely nonsensical. Not only do you lack in reading comprehension skills, but you seem to suffer from delusional episodes.

Here are some more examples, beyond 'air' that are in common use in English. Nobody with half a brain, which seems to exclude you and Mame at the least, would suggest that an atmosphere, a book, a movie, an article can be contemplative. They are vehicles through which a person can become contemplative.

Google exact phrase search:

contemplative atmosphere
About 18,500 results

contemplative article
About 514 results

contemplative movie
About 3,720 results

contemplative book
About 5,200 results

If your reading skills are so hot, how did you manage to miss this when I discussed it with Mame on page one?

1 Reply

@JTT,

JTT wrote:

Quote:
The contemplative desert air does not say the air is contemplative???

No, it most certsainly does not. Fido. That would be completely nonsensical. Not only do you lack in reading comprehension skills, but you seem to suffer from delusional episodes.

Here are some more examples, beyond 'air' that are in common use in English. Nobody with half a brain, which seems to exclude you and Mame at the least, would suggest that an atmosphere, a book, a movie, an article can be contemplative. They are vehicles through which a person can become contemplative.

Google exact phrase search:

contemplative atmosphere
About 18,500 results

contemplative article
About 514 results

contemplative movie
About 3,720 results

contemplative book
About 5,200 results

If your reading skills are so hot, how did you manage to miss this when I discussed it with Mame on page one?

It reads competely nonsensically... I am willing to meet most art half way, to work to give it meaning... Written words being not just art but function should not be debased with gibberish or cant... People should, in writing fiction, take Hemingway as an example and use the simple declarative sentence... What does it take just to say something, and use the situation and the setting to bring contemplation to mind???

The art of fiction is smoke an mirrors, to leave the reader with an impression rather than spelling it out, and as in this case, spelling it out badly... Consider the power of suggestion.... Do not leave the taste of clumsiness and failure in peoples mouths when you want them to think of cherries... Art is not just subject, but suggestion, and as such, you do not want to see the artistry, the style, the technique, the handiwork... If you are thinking about the thing, the art as art, you are not thinking about what is suggested by the art: the meaning...

1 Reply

my skin had softened in the contemplative desert air?

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