Reply
Wed 11 May, 2011 05:12 am
Context:
Wilkins asks the class whether knowing
about the bystander effect would make them
more likely to act if they saw an attack. It’s
not an outlandish scenario. Most of the stu-
dents live in inner-city neighborhoods that
see more than their share of violence. The
morning after Wilkins’s visit, the owner of
a popular Mexican restaurant a few blocks
from the school was shot and killed as
he opened his restaurant. “If there were a
knife fi ght in the plaza out here in front of
the school, would you be more likely to get
involved?” Wilkins asks. “Hell no!” some-
one blurts out. “Okay, that’s probably smart,”
Wilkins says, “but what could you do with-
out putting yourself in danger?” The discus-
sion continues. It’s not clear what lessons the
students will take with them, but Carberry
says the added dose of psychology seems
to have kept them more engaged. “The kids
really seem to dig it,” he says.
@oristarA,
in this context dig means to enjoy, appreciate, have fun with...
@oristarA,
dig= like, be interested in, be attracted to.
(Slang, mid-1950s or before.)
Joe( "That girl really digs you, man.")Nation
Literally, delve means to dig. As the other members here have pointed out, in this case, dig has a slang meaning of to enjoy, or to understand.
Delve is almost never used literally any longer, it is only used in the figurative sense of to investigate, to "dig in" to something.
Joe Nation delved into the problem of slang vocabulary.
At one time, delve was used to mean dig in the agricultural sense--to dig up the soil in order to plant or to harvest. In 1381, there was a peasant uprising in England. The supposed leader was Wat Tyler, and it is called Wat Tyler's rebellion. But the ideological leader was a priest named John Ball. Ball was what would centuries later be known as a leveller--someone who opposed the class system and thought that aristocracy and monarchy should be eliminated. He wrote a little piece of doggerel which became a popular statement of the discontent of the peasants:
When Adam dolve
And Eve span
Who was then the gentleman?
The meaning is that there were no kings, there was no aristocracy when Adam and Eve were the only people on earth, another reference to the Christian bible. A gentleman was someone who did not soil his hands with labor.
Dolve is the past tense of to delve, and means when Adam dug the earth to plant crops and to get his daily bread "in the sweat of his brow," which is a reference to the Christian bible. Span is the past tense of to spin, and it means that Eve span wool to make cloth, the common occupation of peasant women. But, to delve in the literal, agricultural sense, and the conjugations dolve and span are no longer in use.
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:
When Adam dolve
And Eve span
Who was then the gentleman?
I dig it!
There was a poem in ancient China with close meaning.
Thank you all.
Selected Answer
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace