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 #2 (permalink) Sun Dec 30, 2007 5:08 am usage of "covet" |
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"Covet" (вожделеть) doesn't just mean "want". It means to yearn to have something.
In the Ten Commandments, it says, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods."
This means that you're not supposed to yearn to have things that other people have and you can't. I got VERY familiar with this emotion in Eastern Europe, and we can see that it leads to a lot of social evils, not the least of which is Marxism.
In the Ten Commandments, it also says, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife."
This means you're not supposed to run around so hot for someone else's wife that you want to have her.
So, besides sounding weird, if you said, "I covet to meet you," it would mean you have a strong, jealous, maybe even heavy-breathing lust to make someone's acquaintance. That may be true for some people in some situations, but we wouldn't say it. :D |
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Jamie (K)
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Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| #3 (permalink) Sun Dec 30, 2007 7:40 am usage of "covet" |
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Hi, Jamie!
Many thanks for your explanation.
I just imagined someone saying "Я вожделею встретить тебя". I would think that the guy has lost his marbles :) (Though I would understand him perfectly well, and I consider "Я вожделею встретить тебя" as a correct expression) |
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Lost_Soul
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| #4 (permalink) Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:45 am usage of "covet" |
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I love it when you guys talk dirty to me in Cyrillic.
.
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 Mister Micawber
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| #5 (permalink) Sun Dec 30, 2007 14:27 pm usage of "covet" |
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| lost_soul wrote: |
| I just imagined someone saying "Я вожделею встретить тебя". I would think that the guy has lost his marbles :) (Though I would understand him perfectly well, and I consider "Я вожделею встретить тебя" as a correct expression) |
You can show stronger desire to meet someone by saying, "I'm anxious to meet you." Be careful with that word "anxious", though, because it can either mean that someone is happy and excited about something that's going to happen, or it can mean that he is full of angst. |
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Jamie (K)
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Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| #6 (permalink) Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:11 am usage of "covet" |
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I covet your acquaintance, fellas.
hehe
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Prezbucky
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| #7 (permalink) Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:14 am usage of "covet" |
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(that's right -- I run around, hot-breathing and frothing at the mouth... blood vessels bursting... face redder than Lenin... earnestly seeking your acquaintance.)
sorry, late night here. I need to save myself for tomorrow. adios.
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Prezbucky
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| Phrasal verb: hold true (held true) | phrase "left of leaves" |
