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#2 (permalink) Tue May 29, 2007 7:48 am Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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. Sorry, but those excerpts are not enough for me to identify the meanings, tbx. The phrases in question are very slangy. . _________________ Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's |
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Mister Micawber Language Coach

Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 7426 Location: Yokohama, Japan
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#3 (permalink) Tue May 29, 2007 13:41 pm Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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They are indeed kind of slangy. Let me, then, give the whole passages.
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A: Let's get this show on the road. B: This is not what we discussed. There are far too many people in this room-- A: Look, doctor, I promise we'll be out of here before he blows his porcelain. Okay? B: Agent Baer, five minutes. A: Look, everyone just calm down. All right? I want you to ask this man about the shoot-out in the harbour. |
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A: I've been in L.A. county talking to a guy they pulled out of a drainpipe in San Pedro yesterday after the shoot-out. He came to this morning. He started talking. He was part of a Hungarian mob there to do a deal with a bunch of goats from Argentina and he says it was definitely not a dope deal. B: But the 91 million-- A: Yeah, we know. Our man says no way on the dope. This Hungarian tells me the whole bunch was pulling stumps for Turkey the next day. They had no time to negotiate that kind of product and no means to move it. A: What's the money for? B: He didn't know. No one doing the deal knew, except for a few key people. They all were very hush about it, he says. Whatever it was, it was very sensitive. |
I hope they will be of help this time. Thank you. |
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Tbx New Member
Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 8
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#4 (permalink) Tue May 29, 2007 23:05 pm Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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. #1-- sorry, I still have no idea. Maybe a paramedic among our membership can help you with this one. All I can think of that is porcelain is his bedpan.
#2-- I think you are right-- set off for Turkey. . _________________ Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's |
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Mister Micawber Language Coach

Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 7426 Location: Yokohama, Japan
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#5 (permalink) Tue May 29, 2007 23:38 pm Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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Hi Mr Micawber,
I have been interested in this movie script too since tbx-san put it up here. I have no idea at all about the porcelain thing either but could I suggest a possibility of 'blows his porcelain burner' since tbx said 'He is a burn victim lying in bed in a hospital.'? It doesn't seem to me to make much sense though.
Haihao |
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Haihao I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 1392 Location: Japan
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#6 (permalink) Wed May 30, 2007 0:35 am Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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. If the spelling of the word 'harbour' is any indication of the author's nationality, it might be best to ask these questions of someone who's not American. I'm not familiar with the expressions either, so they may well be idiomatic only in some other version of English (i.e. not American English). . |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8265 Location: USA
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#7 (permalink) Wed May 30, 2007 5:15 am Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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| Hmmm...Yankee may be right. Maybe this is the British release of the movie? I'm not familiar with these terms either. My guesses are: "blows his porcelain" = has to go to the bathroom & "pulling stumps for Turkey" = leaving for Turkey in a hurry...Hopefully it's not just us older generation having problems understanding the young ones' slangs... |
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Diverhank I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 362 Location: California, USA
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#8 (permalink) Wed May 30, 2007 8:20 am Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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| If the movie's title is "The Usual Suspects" as tbx put in the post subject, more information could be obtained at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114814/ |
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Haihao I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 1392 Location: Japan
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#9 (permalink) Wed May 30, 2007 8:58 am Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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Hi,
As the only current member of the sceptered isle I'll have a go at this. I would suggest that blows his porcelain is akin to similar expressions like kicks the bucket snuffs it and so on meaning simply, dies. Perhaps and this is a wild, wild guess it refers to something put into a kiln for firing that gets too hot and explodes. As for pulling stumps for I think this comes from that strange game called cricket (to me watching this game is about as exciting as watching paint dry). The three sticks put into the ground at either end of the strip of grass between which the two batsmen run are called stumps. When you remove them out of the ground, you are finishing the game and going home. It therefore suggests that pulling stumps for could mean setting out for.
Such are my explanations but you'll have to make your own mind up about their viability.
Alan _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story French or English? |
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Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 9197 Location: UK
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#10 (permalink) Wed May 30, 2007 9:37 am Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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. I think your exegesis is brilliant, Alan. _________________ Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's |
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Mister Micawber Language Coach

Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 7426 Location: Yokohama, Japan
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#11 (permalink) Wed May 30, 2007 9:59 am Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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Hi Alan,
Please allow me to say it with a Japanese phrase this time: Hontouni Benkyouni Narimasu! (=It is really a good lesson for me!)
Thank you!
Haihao |
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Haihao I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 26 Oct 2006 Posts: 1392 Location: Japan
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#12 (permalink) Wed May 30, 2007 15:42 pm Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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| I believe Alan's explanations are right on the money! Thanks. |
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Diverhank I'm here quite often ;-)

Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 362 Location: California, USA
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#13 (permalink) Wed May 30, 2007 15:51 pm Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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. Thanks, Alan!  . |
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Yankee I'm a Communicator ;-)

Joined: 16 Apr 2006 Posts: 8265 Location: USA
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#14 (permalink) Wed May 30, 2007 20:25 pm Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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I had a slightest guess whether the phrase could simply mean "to die" or not. But I wasn't sure of that up until now. Thank you all for your brilliant efforts and explanations. I shall continue with the others if you wish.
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A: Somebody's got to do something about this s#$t. Getting hauled in every five minutes. So I did a little time. Does that mean I get railed every time a truck finds its way off the planet? B: Fenster, will you relax? These guys don't have any probable cause. A: You're f#$king-A right. No P.C. No goddamn right. You do some time, never let you go. You know, treat me like a criminal, I'll end up a criminal. B: You are a criminal! |
This is after they have been brought in a jail. Just to make life easier, I'll provide the original script version. "You're f#$kin' A right, no P.C. Well screw P.C. No right. No goddamn right."
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A: Verbal, you know we're trying to help you. B: Sure. And I appreciate that. And I wanna help you, Agent Kujan. I like cops. I would have liked to have been a Fed myself, but my C.P. always-- |
What can those abbreviations possibly be? |
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Tbx New Member
Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 8
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#15 (permalink) Wed May 30, 2007 23:00 pm Some sentences from the movie "The Usual Suspects" |
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. PC = probable cause. It's in the previous elocution. CP= I'll need more context-- or you can look HERE yourself. . _________________ Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's |
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Mister Micawber Language Coach

Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 7426 Location: Yokohama, Japan
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| making out the words | a friend of mine or my friend? |