Charles Riggs
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 2:46 pm
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 08:03:07 +0800, Robert Bannister
<robban@it.net.au> wrote:
| Quote: | John Dean wrote:
How are you with wine-dark sea? scrotum-tightening sea?
Fine, but I wouldn't be happy with 'wine-dark' or 'storm-dark' ship's
cabin, and that's the problem I had with 'rain-darkened room'. I love
'rain-darkened landscape', but find it hard to extend that to the room.
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Me too, but how about a weatherman talking about 'soft air'? A CNN
news host jumped on his expression with much glee the other day,
apparently ignorant of the common Irish expression 'a soft day', not
that I'm so sure that moist air, perhaps with a bit of rain, was what
the weatherman was referring to.
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Charles Riggs
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John Briggs
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2004 6:54 pm
Post subject: Re: Counter |
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John Dean wrote:
| Quote: | Sara Lorimer wrote:
David wrote:
In article <1ggnx6t.10mdav2fhsoy0N%sl560_delete_this_@columbia.edu>,
Sara Lorimer <sl560_delete_this_@columbia.edu> wrote:
David wrote, in part:
"Sonia laid the pen down on the counter, where it gleamed smugly in
the rain-darkened room.
What's a rain-darkened room? Has it been flooded?
Doubt it. Don't the light get dimmer when it rains in your part of
the world?
I would never think to describe a room as "rain-darkened," any more
than it would be "curtain-darkened." A street or a shirt or something
else that actually gets wet, sure, but not a room. Does
"rain-darkened room" sound reasonable to you?
How are you with wine-dark sea? scrotum-tightening sea?
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There has, I believe, been some discussion about 'wine-dark sea' over the
years, complete with theories regarding the likelihood of either the wine or
the sea having changed colour.
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John Briggs |
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