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Hi all,
can you help me?
I have some troubles with some idioms I found in a pièce by McCarthy.
I'll quote you the lines:
"
Black- I know you dont, honey. Look. The first thing you got to understand is that I aint got a original thought in my head. If it aint got the lingering scent of divinity to it then I aint interested.
White- The lingering scent of divinity
[...]
Black- I heard it on the radio. Black preacher. But the point is I done tried the other way. And I dont mean chippied, neither. Running blindfold thorough the woods with the bit tween your teeth. Oh man. Didnt I try it though. If you can find a soul that give it a better shot than me I'd like to meet him. I surely would. And what do you reckon it got me?"
I highlighted the parts I struggle to understand.
What the hell does it mean 'chippied'?
Which one is, among the many meanings of the words 'bit', the one the author is here referring to?
With regard to the first cue, 'to it' is related to mind or thought or what else?
Thank you all
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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first off, here's a link for others to provide more context. here's my take: "to it" relates to ideas Black is confronted with; when Black says he "tried the other way", he's referring to (non)religion, not (homo)sexuality. "with the bit tween your teeth" is a more familiar idiom, referring to throwing off restraints and proceeding on a headlong course.
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veteran
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Here, RodolfoC is my take... If it aint got the lingering scent of divinity to it then I aint interested.
If it doesn't have an aspect of the devine that I can sense then I avoid it.
I done tried the other way. And I dont mean chippied, neither. Running blindfold thorough the woods with the bit tween your teeth.
I've tried a hedonistic life and I don't mean in small snatches, instead I raced headlong through life seeking pleasures.
chippied: cut into chips, as in small increments. bit: as in a horse chomping at the bit while running eagerly. Edit: Hmm? I now see that my explanation is exactly the same as tsuwm's, but somehow better. 
Last edited by themilum; 09/22/07 10:48 PM.
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Ok, I hope you can help me a little more on the same topic.
As previously done, I'll quote from the text some excerpts I didn't understood or whose meaning and structure I'm not sure of.
Thank you in advance.
In the following scene the two characters are talking about what occurred in the subway: the Black saved the White's life preventing him to throw himself on the tub rails. The white is blaming the black, cause nobody is responsible, according to him, for other's deeds and actions.
"1.White - Any way [he adds] people who are always looking out for perfect strangers are very often people who wont look out for the ones they're supposed to look out for. In my opinion. If you're just doing what you're supposed to then you dont get to be a hero.
1. Black - And that would be me.
2. White - I dont know. Would it?
2. Black - Well, I can see how they might be some truth in that. But in this particular case I might say I sure didnt know what sort of person I was supposed to be on the lookout for or what I was supposed to do when I found him. In this particular case they wasnt but one thing to go by.
3. White - And that was?
3. Black - That was that there he is standin there. And I can look at him and I can say: Well, he dont look like my brother. But there he is. Maybe I better look again."
[...]
These scene seems to me quite understandable. But I'd like to make clear some points.
1. in the clue 2.black he says "I sure didnt know what sort of person I was supposed to be on the lookout for or what I was supposed to do when I found him": what does it mean exactly the first part? More or less, "i'm certain that at the time i didnt know what i was like", or "i didnt pay any mind to what i was looking for" and the like? At the end of the same clue Black uses 'him'. Is his sentence a third-person sentence, or is he referring to White in an odd manner, just like one refers to her majesty?
2. The second issue arises in the clue 3.black, and is quite identical to the latter I pointed out. Black talks about White, and he is actually dialoguing with White, but he uses "he", "him", and so on, as if telling a story about a stranger or to a stranger. How should I interpret this choice?
3. How many grammar mistakes can you identify, parsing the abovementioned clues?
Ok, now the second part of my enquiry.
Here the white is arguing that speaking about religion it's a matter of agreement. Therefore I cannot state, e.g., that I know that Jesus exists or that he's listening to us; I can barely state that this is what i think. In order to make clear the point he uses an example.
"
1.White - It's not the same thing. It's a matter of agreement. If you and I say that I have my coat on and Cecil says that I'm naked and I have green skin and a tail then we might want to think about where we should put Cecil so that he wont hurt himself.
1.Black - Who's Cecil?
2.White - He's not anybody. He's just a hypothetical...There's not any Cecil. He's just a person I made up to illustrate the point.
2.Black - Made up.
3.White - Yes.
3.Black - Mm.
4.White - We're not going to get into this again are we? It's not the same thing. The fact that I made Cecil up.
4.Black - But you did make it up.
5.White - Yes.
5.Black - And his view of things dont count.
6.White - No. That's why I made him up. I could have changed it around. I could have made you the one that didn't think I was wearing a coat.
6.Black. And was green and all that shit you said.
7.White - yes
7.Black - But you didnt.
8.White - No.
8.Black - You loaded it off on Cecil.
9.White - Yes.
9.Black - But Cecil cant defend hisself cause the fact that he aint in agreement with everybody else making his word no good. I mean aside from the fact that you made him up and he's green and everything.
10.White - He's not the one who's green. I am. Where is this going?
10.Black - I'm just tryng to find about Cecil.
11.White - I dont think so. Can you see Jesus?
[...]"
Ok now I have a slight doubt: in 6.White he's meaning of course that he can re-shape however he wants his ideas. Then he says "I could have made you the one...": what does he want to say? a. I could have made for you a character that didnt think I was wearing a coat b I could have made you as the character (you are the one who is thinking etc.). The first one sounds me as nonsensical, but anyhow I’m in doubt, and it’s likely that I didnt grasp at all the real meaning.
Last and brief question.
“White. Who knows? Maybe birthdays are dangerous. Like Christmas. Ornaments hanging from the trees, wreaths form the doors, and bodies from the steampipes all over America”
Ok. “And bodies from the steampipes all over America”. Please enlighten me. First. What on earth is a steam pipe: is it the steam tube, gas duct, theatrically spitting steam from NY’s streets? If yes, how can a body hang from it? Is it a chimney? If yes, the bodies he’s referring to are (ironically) thieves, santa Klauses, or what else? The sentence is devoid of literal meaning and one should understand it only in a “idiomatic-sympathetic” way?
Thank you very much
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Carpal Tunnel
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Personal opinion: Rodolfo, I think you should throw that book across the room as hard as you can, then walk away and do something fun. At least, that's what I would have done by now (though without the throwing part).
But, ok-- I get the feeling that English is not your first language, but whether it is or isn't, here: be on the lookout for is to taken all together as the object of to. I think you may be reading what sort of person I was supposed to be as belonging all together, whereas in this context, the word be goes with on the lookout for . "Be on the lookout for" can be restated as 'be alert for', 'be ready for', etc. So But in this particular case I might say I sure didnt know what sort of person I was supposed to be on the lookout for could be restated as "I knew I needed to be alert for a particular type of person, but I had no way of knowing how I was supposed to recognize this person". And yes, the he means the as-yet-unknown person black was supposed to recognize.
As to I could have changed it around. I could have made you the one that didn't think I was wearing a coat., white means that, in creating a hypothetical situation of opposing views, he "created" a third character (Cecil) to have the opposing view, instead of visualizing a setting of himself and black having opposing views.
The third one I can't help you with, except to guess that he means that people have hung themselves (committed suicide) on steam pipes. (Er, yes, they are pipes designed to carry steam; though I don't think I've ever seen one. Maybe in NYC they're out in the open; I don't know.)
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and bodies from the steampipes all over America
I'd say this refers to the homeless trying to get warm on Christmas a winter day — picture steam rising up out of manholes and grates in New York street scenes.
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Pooh-Bah
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"they wasnt but one thing to go by."
= "There was only one clue."
Just out of curiosity are you reading this for fun (not my idea of but to each their own), to improve your English (pick a different book!) or because it was assigned in class?
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stranger
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Ok, thank you again.
I avow that you're really as merciless wordsmiths as one can hardly imagine. I'm always trying to improve my English - you're right - but in this particular case I just have to traslate the text - not exactly for fun, nor precisely for masochism.
Anyway, you're assistance has been useful and I'm still here to accept suggestions and clues. In the meanwhile I'll try to figure out how many meanings "people hanging from steampipes" could bear.
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"Dangers of Christmas" and "_bodies_ hanging from steampipes" implies to me something about the high suicide rate around the holidays. Steampipes often run near the ceiling in basements, warehouses, industrial lofts, etc. and would be convenient places to tie a noose while standing on a chair...
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