|
|
 #2 (permalink) Thu Jun 07, 2007 16:32 pm Some descriptions from the novel 'Catch-22' |
|
|
Hi Haihao(genki?)
I think in number 3, "strikes" has something to do with unlucky things that have happened to somebody.
And number 4, maybe, just maybe, "drizzly glare" refers to "not so much sunlight". It is 3 o'clock in the morning. No matter where, I bet there will never be scorching sunlight at 3 in the morning.
And sorry, I can only understand the underlined sentence in number 1 and 2 halfway.
Nina
PS As always, love your questions. They wake up my sleepy eyes all the time.(Oyasumi! It's 0:27 as I'm writing this. I'm leaving for Tokyo tomorrow, maybe I'll check the new complex you told me before. BTW, I'm going to see the movie POTC 4, have you seen it?) |
|
NinaZara
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 1165
Location: Malaysia (Cat city)
|
|
|
Haihao
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 1392
Location: Japan
|
 |
| #4 (permalink) Fri Jun 08, 2007 5:29 am Some descriptions from the novel 'Catch-22' |
|
|
| Haihao wrote: |
| Quote: |
"Justice?" The colonel was astounded. "What is justice?"
"Justice, sir-"
"That's not what justice is," the colonel jeered, and began pounding the table again with his big fat hand. "That's what Karl Marx is. I'll tell you what justice is. Justice is a knee in the gut from the floor on the chin at night sneaky with a knife brought up down on the magazine of a battleship sandbagged underhanded in the dark without a word of warning. Garroting, That's what justice is when we've all got to be tough enough and rough enough to fight Billy Petrolle. From the hip. Get it?" |
|
Haihao, please check that long underlined part again. I have a feeling you mistyped or mispunctuated something, because I understand the general idea, but something is wrong with it.
| Haihao wrote: |
| 2. What to do from the hip? What does the 2nd one really mean? |
A cowboy or any person who "shoots from the hip" shoots quickly without thinking or aiming. It's just a quick reaction, usually with bad consequences. Sometimes when someone is quick to say nasty things that hurt people, and never thinks before saying them, we say the person "shoots from the lip". It's a pun on "shoot from the hip."
| Haihao wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Major Major had three strikes on him from the beginning his mother, his father and Henry Fonda, to whom he bore a sickly resemblance almost from the moment of his birth |
3. Does it mean 'imprints' or something? |
BASEBALL, Haihao! BASEBALL! You keep forgetting BASEBALL!
"STRIKE THREE! Yoooooooou're OUT!"
| Haihao wrote: |
| 4. What does 'in the drizzly glare' mean? |
It is drizzling outside, and it's probably a bit dark. Light is being reflected off the water droplets in the air and creating glare. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5332
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
|
Haihao
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 1392
Location: Japan
|
|
| #6 (permalink) Fri Jun 08, 2007 13:33 pm Some descriptions from the novel 'Catch-22' |
|
|
I have to go to work now, but your first problem is that you have mistaken the word "gut" (meaning belly) for the word "gutter". It sounds like two people are fighting on the floor, and one kicks the other in the stomach with his knee.
Somehow, the guy gets hit in the chin from down there too.
To "sandbag" means to make someone think that you can't or won't attack him, and then attacking him. Or it can mean pretending that you aren't skilled enough to win a contest, and then very easily winning it. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5332
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| #7 (permalink) Sat Jun 09, 2007 0:28 am Some descriptions from the novel 'Catch-22' |
|
|
Hi Jamie,
Thanks again. I think I am gradually catching up with this Catch-22 with your help!  Let me give a try again to rewrite it this way:
Justice is like a knee with which one kicks the other in the stomach and on the chin from the floor at night sneakily along with a knife which is brought up from the magazine of a battleship down below thus the stomach and the chin are attacked severely or unjustly underhand in the dark without a word of warning.
Does it make a little more sense?
Thank you!
Haihao |
|
Haihao
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 1392
Location: Japan
|
|
| #8 (permalink) Sat Jun 09, 2007 0:35 am Some descriptions from the novel 'Catch-22' |
|
|
| Yes, that makes more sense than the original sentence. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 5332
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| #9 (permalink) Sat Jun 09, 2007 0:41 am Some descriptions from the novel 'Catch-22' |
|
|
| Thank you so very much! |
|
Haihao
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 26 Oct 2006
Posts: 1392
Location: Japan
|
|
|
| Use of submit | What does Neanderthal logic means? |
