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Joined: Sep 2001
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
Mystery writer Lindsey Davis (and Faldage?) doesn't seem to understand the nuances of her title. The pertinent attendant connotations are...
The Silver Pigs: = particular silver pigs. Turn your head... see the silver pigs.
Silver Pigs: = General, symbolic, silver pigs. Ah...
And sup till time and times are done
The silver pigs of the moon
the silver pigs of the sun.
Sometimes writers fight stupid fights. I bet her books are entertaining but hardly high art. The title “ The Silver Pigs” is a bit heavy-handed if that's what they meant, but she should be happy that american publishers wish to mislead the depth hungry american book buyers by suggesting the heavy for the light.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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Have any of us read the book? Do we know if some specific pigs of silver are involved? Or is it just about pigs of silver in general?
For the title of a book I still can't see much of a diference; am I just metal blind?
And why, o great milum, do you use the phrase "the silver pigs..." in your example of the general use of "silver pigs"?
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Joined: Nov 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Have any of us read the book?
I have read some in the series but not Silver Pigs ... is it new ... or did I miss it?
I find the series hilarious!
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Joined: Sep 2001
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
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And why, o great milum, do you use the phrase "the silver pigs..." in your example of the general use of "silver pigs"?
The why of it, O great pedant who slippeth, is that the title is not the text.
Personal to Mr. Faldage, Others do not read below this line.
My dear Faldage; You embarrass me before my friends. Did you not notice the err in my example:
The silver pigs of the moon.
The Golden pigs of the sun.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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the title is not the text
Should I pretend I understood that?
No, I didn't notice.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
the title is not the text
Should I pretend I understood that?
Go to McDonalds. Look to the back and see the sign that reads- RESTROOMS. Notice that it doesn't say "THE" RESTROOMS, here, you see, we are talking about Restroomessence in the abstract. Then go through the appopriate door and enter a sparkling porcelian and chromed world of amenities galore. Now look at the sign above the urinal. Does not the sign read- Please don't pee on The restroom floor. Ah-ha. Here we are talking restrooms mundane and we need the "The".
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Go to McDonalds
If I have to do this to understand I shall eschew folly.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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eschews folly? or eh, choose folly?  to faldage, obscurely and Po[go]etically:
Barkis willing; wow's of folly
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley'garoo!
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Wow, "The Silver Pigs" was the first Falco novel. ("Silver Pigs" in the US). Without giving too much away, our hero has to find out who is embezzling silver ingots from the treasury.
Ms. Davis informs us elsewhere on her website that they are called pigs because when the molten silver is being cast into ingots it runs through a channel with ingot-shaped moulds hanging from it like a series of san serif T's run together, where the crosspiece represents the main channel and the upward strokes are the ingots. This reminded people of piglets being suckled from a sow.
As for the great corn controversy, Ms. Davis quotes the OED as saying: 3 The seed of the cereal or farinaceous plants; grain. (Locally the seed is understood to denote the leading crop of the district; hence in England corn = wheat, in Scotland = oats, in US, as in Indian corn = maize)
Bingley
Bingley
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