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 #2 (permalink) Mon May 02, 2011 5:56 am From Fawlty Towers |
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1-- The first one is not necessary. In fact, the others are not really necessary, either, if that is the speaker's habit. Fawlty is a hotelier; he may well dispense with the article. I notice in your last 3 posts, S&S, that you are trying to impose the grammar of written English on dialogue. It does not necessarily apply. Much of speech is fragmentary.
2-- 'In the land of the living' is a set phrase meaning 'alive'.
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| #3 (permalink) Mon May 02, 2011 9:02 am From Fawlty Towers |
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1, As Mister Micawber has guessed, when Basil was on the telephone confirming that reservation, he left out the articles as if he were reading a reservation note.
2. Basil is not exactly happy in his marriage to Sybil. He means he would be 'more alive' without her He is likening his current situation to being like a zombie, just functioning as he is told under her orders.
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| #4 (permalink) Mon May 02, 2011 9:14 am From Fawlty Towers |
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Hi S&S,
'Land of the living' here suggests the real world as Basil feels he is not living in a normal world as long as he is living with Sybil.
Alan
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| #5 (permalink) Tue May 03, 2011 19:20 pm From Fawlty Towers |
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| Beeesneees wrote: |
| being like a zombie, |
I like your "zombie". And I'm dying to recognize zombie.
What's that zombie? |
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| #6 (permalink) Tue May 03, 2011 19:32 pm From Fawlty Towers |
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Hi Puppet,
Have a read of this:http://bnc.bl.uk/saraWeb.php?qy=zombie
Alan
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| #7 (permalink) Tue May 03, 2011 20:04 pm From Fawlty Towers |
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| Puppet wrote: |
I like your "zombie". And I'm dying to recognize zombie.
What's that zombie? |
From Wikipedia:
A zombie (Haitian Creole: zonbi; North Mbundu: nzumbe) can be either a fictional undead monster or a person in an entranced state believed to be controlled by a bokor or wizard. These latter are the original zombies, occurring in the West African Vodun religion and its American offshoots Haitian Vodou and New Orleans Voodoo.
In Fawlty Towers, Basil feels he is controlled by Sybil!
More:
http://consc.net/zombies.html
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| #8 (permalink) Tue May 03, 2011 21:13 pm From Fawlty Towers |
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Thank you both,
I understood that zombie(s) are like those bodies who came out of cemetary in the scenes were shot for thriller's song for Micheal Jackson, right?
Although Mr. Alan's link would suggest some other meanings for it. But I'm talking about the meaning that is used ..the most. |
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| #9 (permalink) Tue May 03, 2011 21:54 pm From Fawlty Towers |
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The Hollywood type zombie as seen in Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' were supposedly dead people who came back to life but without any intelligent thought or action.
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| #10 (permalink) Tue May 03, 2011 23:41 pm From Fawlty Towers |
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| Thank you. |
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Puppet
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 02 Jan 2010
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| On the weekend vs. At the weekend | Are these sentences natural? May 3 |
