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Does "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past" mean...?

Forums: Idioms, Grammar, Esl, English
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roger
 
  1  
Reply Fri 14 Jun, 2013 04:05 pm
@MontereyJack,
Is there a point at which idioms merge into lexical chunks?
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  2  
Reply Fri 14 Jun, 2013 05:03 pm
@MontereyJack,
Quote:
Really? What part of speech is it supposed to be?


Are idioms parts of speech? What part of speech is "kick the bucket"?

Quote:
Can you use it in a sentence, as you can other idioms?


You definitely don't want to count your chickens before they hatch.

It's best that you don't count your chickens before they hatch.

Quote:
How do you use it instead of some other part of speech not an idiom?


????

Quote:
Can you use it to express anything other than what it says


Idiom - Don't count your chickens before they hatch, Jack.

Literal -
Farmer Jones: One, two, three, four,

MJ: Don't count your chickens before they hatch, Farmer Jones.

Quote:
It's a sentence, not an idiom.


So is "Kick the bucket"; Bite the bullet; Don't bite off more than you can chew; Don't beat around the bush; Break a leg; Spill the beans; You can say that again; ... .

Quote:
Don't count your chickens until (before) they hatch (they're hatched).

http://www.eslcafe.com/idioms/id-list.html


Quote:
An idiom is an expression larger than a word whose meaning cannot be systematically derived from meanings that the parts have when used independently of each other.

The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language pg 273


McTag
 
  1  
Reply Sun 16 Jun, 2013 07:58 am
Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.

That's the way I learnt it.

Often shortened to "Don't count your chickens."

okay.
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Sun 16 Jun, 2013 12:23 pm
@McTag,
Quote:
Don't count your chickens before they are hatched.

That's the way I learnt it.


And yet you've put up with this monstrous abuse of the English language your whole life, McTag. It's little wonder that English is in such decline!

"chickens" aren't hatched, "chicks" are hatched.

Smile
McTag
 
  2  
Reply Sun 16 Jun, 2013 01:49 pm
@JTT,

You think? You have a very limited Weltanschauung.
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Mon 17 Jun, 2013 10:38 am
@McTag,
Quote:
You think?


No, not at all, McTag. Twas a wee poke at the lunacy that is prescription.

Quote:
You have a very limited Weltanschauung.


Now why would you think that?

0 Replies
 
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Mon 17 Jun, 2013 02:09 pm
@JTT,

It was this

Quote:
"chickens" aren't hatched, "chicks" are hatched.


I see so many crazy statements on A2K maybe my knee jerks too readily.

Pardon.
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Mon 17 Jun, 2013 05:02 pm
@McTag,
Not a problem, McTag.
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  0  
Reply Tue 18 Jun, 2013 09:42 am
@JTT,
Monterey Jack's cowardly response to this reply to him, put in a distant thread, was this,

Quote:
incidentally, you're wrong about idioms. "Don;t count your chickens....: doesn't fit the Camb. Gram's definition of idioms, peculiar tho that def'n. is.


Grammy's definition doesn't count, Jack.
0 Replies
 
Joe Nation
 
  1  
Reply Tue 18 Jun, 2013 09:51 am
Did anyone on this thread ever correct the meaning of the word "troll" as in the "really ugly mean creature under a bridge." ?

Trolling on the Internet has no connection to the trolling associated with fishing.

Joe( yes. I could read the thread....)Nation

McTag
 
  1  
Reply Tue 18 Jun, 2013 11:18 am
@Joe Nation,

You could be fishing, and be eaten by a troll hiding under the bridge.

There's a clear warning in the song.
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Tue 18 Jun, 2013 12:04 pm
@Joe Nation,
Quote:
Trolling on the Internet has no connection to the trolling associated with fishing.


Joe(the etymologist)Nation
0 Replies
 
dalehileman
 
  1  
Reply Tue 18 Jun, 2013 12:40 pm
@Joe Nation,
Quote:
Trolling on the Internet has no connection to the trolling associated with fishing.
To the contrary Joe, it is a most excellent double entendre
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Tue 18 Jun, 2013 03:54 pm
@dalehileman,
Yes, I thought that was a bit of a strange one, but I shrank from mentioning it lest I caused pique.
dalehileman
 
  1  
Reply Tue 18 Jun, 2013 04:12 pm
@McTag,
On a2k the reaction of pique frequently materializes, Mac, regardless of definitude, precision or veracity
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  0  
Reply Tue 18 Jun, 2013 05:30 pm
@Joe Nation,
Quote:
Did anyone on this thread ever correct the meaning of the word "troll" as in the "really ugly mean creature under a bridge." ?


I could attempt an answer if I was able to decipher a cogent meaning, Joe(A2K famous writer)Nation.

I think an early US administration tried to introduce 'troll' as one of their early boogeymen that was threatening the natshanul sakuretty 'a tha USA.

They asked to be able to invade any country that contained any dark places to hide. It didn't fly back then, but it was briefly resurrected this century before a new name was devised, 'terrorist', out of fears that their lies would be detected. Fat chance of that happening with the sheeple, eh, Joe?
0 Replies
 
 

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