Reply
Thu 11 Aug, 2005 10:24 pm
"When the wrestlers are on, everyone is glued to the TV," she said, "and when the big [horse] race is on, everybody goes to the racing grounds."
The racing grounds: Is this the place where horses race? Why doesn't he call it a "racing track". For it is not divided into several tracks? (Notice: This is describing the Naadam of Mongolia.)
Thank you.
Yes, racing grounds means "the area where racing takes place", just as hunting grounds means "the area where hunting takes place".
If the writer had used the phrase race track (this is more normal in English than racing track) it would suggest to the reader that there was a marked track with start line, winning posts, etc, such as would be normal in Europe. I would guess that at this Mongolian festival there is no such thing, and the Mongolians just go to the traditional racing area and say "OK, the race will start here and finish over there"; so the writer has chosen a less-usual phrase in order not to mislead readers.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace