Thread: a phrase

could you help me understand this phrase, plz

day after day such traffic as used the highway passed heedlessly by, while in the cabin back under the trees a screaming parrot kept vigil over the lifeless corpse of his master.

day after day (every day) such traffic as used the highway (the traffic that used the highway)(the original phraes is bad English) passed heedlessly by, (was unaware as it passed) while in the cabin back under the trees a screaming parrot kept vigil over the lifeless corpse of his master.


This is a poorly constructed senence. There is no connection to the traffic and the parrot at the cabin.

I will rephrase it guessing at what it really means.

Day after day the traffic on the highway passed by heedlessly as the screaming parrot in the tree kept vigil over his master's lifeless corpse.

I will rephrase it guessing at what it really means.

Day after day the traffic on the highway passed by heedlessly as the screaming parrot in the tree kept vigil over his master's lifeless corpse.

DDT, may I ask why you have disposed of the cabin?

Originally Posted by DDT

(the traffic that used the highway)(the original phraes is bad English)

I totally disagree, it is perfectly good English. By "such traffic as used the highway... " the author is suggesting that very little traffic used the highway. Your variant conveys no such nuance, and is therefore a poor translation.

Originally Posted by DDT

This is a poorly constructed senence.

It's not stylistically neutral, but that doesn't make it bad.

Originally Posted by Chuvak

could you help me understand this phrase, plz

day after day such traffic as used the highway passed heedlessly by, while in the cabin back under the trees a screaming parrot kept vigil over the lifeless corpse of his master.

The first half of the sentence sounds strange to me.
I would have said:

Day after day, the highway traffic heedlessly passed by, . . .


The second half of the sentence sounds perfect.

Originally Posted by Chuvak

could you help me understand this phrase, plz

day after day such traffic as used the highway passed heedlessly by, while in the cabin back under the trees a screaming parrot kept vigil over the lifeless corpse of his master.

The sense of it is... While on the highway the traffic passed by as they do day after day, no one was aware of what was happening inside the cabin hidden by the trees - a parrot screaming over the corpse of his master.

This sounds like it might be from a murder mystery novel. I don't think it's bad english, the style actually has a touch of poetry imo.

Originally Posted by Vadim84

DDT, may I ask why you have disposed of the cabin?

Your right! I completely forgot to add "the cabin".

Originally Posted by scotcher

Originally Posted by DDT

(the traffic that used the highway)(the original phraes is bad English)

I totally disagree, it is perfectly good English. By "such traffic as used the highway... " the author is suggesting that very little traffic used the highway. Your variant conveys no such nuance, and is therefore a poor translation.

Originally Posted by DDT

This is a poorly constructed senence.

It's not stylistically neutral, but that doesn't make it bad.

Well it must that stuffy old fashioned brand of English that is used over glass of Sherry and a portafino cigar which is no longer used by us Aussies because I read this sentence to some Aussie friends of mine and got quite a good laugh over it out of them.

It's prose, you pillock. It's from a novel.

Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1, as rewritten by DDT 'cos the original made his numpty mates giggle:

The question is whether or not to kill yourself
Like, whether it's better to take bad luck on the chin,
or to try to change your fate somehow
Dying is just like sleep really, only moreso, and sleep is a good way
to forget all your problems, isn't it? Yep, so I'd like to die then.
And maybe when you die you dream, just like when you sleep.
He,! Imagine what kind of dreams you'd have then though, eh mate?

etc etc

Philistine

Thank you, guys!!!!

To Scotcher: If it was rewritten, could you provide the original verse, please

Originally Posted by Chuvak

Thank you, guys!!!!

To Scotcher: If it was rewritten, could you provide the original verse, please

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,

Originally Posted by scotcher

It's prose, you pillock. It's from a novel.

Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1, as rewritten by DDT 'cos the original made his numpty mates giggle:

The question is whether or not to kill yourself
Like, whether it's better to take bad luck on the chin,
or to try to change your fate somehow
Dying is just like sleep really, only moreso, and sleep is a good way
to forget all your problems, isn't it? Yep, so I'd like to die then.
And maybe when you die you dream, just like when you sleep.
He,! Imagine what kind of dreams you'd have then though, eh mate?

etc etc

Philistine

Pillock? ..........I'll have to look that one up!

I should have known that you would be perfectly familiar will prose and the likes. I suppose you already know what I think of poetry!
Well me and me colonial mates are gunna swat a few flies and crack open a tinnie or two now so, I'll be shootin' through! Hoo roo!

scotcher you go, boy!! If you hadn't've, I would've jumped in on that one too. Absolutely nothing wrong with the construction such NOUN as VERB. Perfectly cool writing over here in the Colonies, as well. No clue about "pillock," though. ROFL about the Will bit too, nice followup!

We really get dumbed down with all the pathetic pablum that passes before the eyes. People forget how wonderful the language can be!! OK, enough rhapsodizing.

Originally Posted by scotcher

It's prose, you pillock. It's from a novel.

Hamlet Act 3, Scene 1, as rewritten by DDT 'cos the original made his numpty mates giggle:

The question is whether or not to kill yourself
Like, whether it's better to take bad luck on the chin,
or to try to change your fate somehow
Dying is just like sleep really, only moreso, and sleep is a good way
to forget all your problems, isn't it? Yep, so I'd like to die then.
And maybe when you die you dream, just like when you sleep.
He,! Imagine what kind of dreams you'd have then though, eh mate?

etc etc

Philistine