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Rifleman
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:37 pm
Post subject: hours by road or even air from any law to speak of... |
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The following paragraph is depicting a situation where a guy is escaping a
gunfight behind, and the third sentence (Ofcourse, he was hours by ~) is so
puzzling and I can't have even a hunch.
'He could keep going and do nothing. He could keep going, use his virgil,
and call for help. Of course he was hours by road or even air from any law
to speak of, and that was too long. Besides, until he knew what he was
facing, he couldn't risk using his virgil. There was a chance ~'
Thanks,
Rifleman |
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nycram
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:46 pm
Post subject: Re: hours by road or even air from any law to speak of... |
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In article <cif764$aie$2@news1.kornet.net>, tellmewhatever@hotmail.com
says...
| Quote: | The following paragraph is depicting a situation where a guy is escaping a
gunfight behind, and the third sentence (Ofcourse, he was hours by ~) is so
puzzling and I can't have even a hunch.
'He could keep going and do nothing. He could keep going, use his virgil,
and call for help. Of course he was hours by road or even air from any law
to speak of, and that was too long. Besides, until he knew what he was
facing, he couldn't risk using his virgil. There was a chance ~'
Thanks,
Rifleman
even if the lawmen used helicopters instead of cars (and didn't have to |
follow roads), it would still take hours for them to reach him.
Gary |
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david56
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 12:00 am
Post subject: Re: hours by road or even air from any law to speak of... |
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Rifleman typed thus:
| Quote: | The following paragraph is depicting a situation where a guy is escaping a
gunfight behind, and the third sentence (Ofcourse, he was hours by ~) is so
puzzling and I can't have even a hunch.
'He could keep going and do nothing. He could keep going, use his virgil,
and call for help. Of course he was hours by road or even air from any law
to speak of, and that was too long. Besides, until he knew what he was
facing, he couldn't risk using his virgil. There was a chance ~'
|
Read it like this:
Of course he was hours (by road or even air) from any law to speak
of, and that was too long.
or rearranged slightly:
Of course he was hours from any law to speak of, by road or even air,
and that was too long.
I have ask - what is his "virgil"?
--
David
===== |
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Rifleman
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 1:33 am
Post subject: Re: hours by road or even air from any law to speak of... |
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"david56" <bass.c.voice@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1bb5369e4b9ce2e398a81d@news.individual.net...
| Quote: | Rifleman typed thus:
The following paragraph is depicting a situation where a guy is escaping
a
gunfight behind, and the third sentence (Ofcourse, he was hours by ~) is
so
puzzling and I can't have even a hunch.
'He could keep going and do nothing. He could keep going, use his
virgil,
and call for help. Of course he was hours by road or even air from any
law
to speak of, and that was too long. Besides, until he knew what he was
facing, he couldn't risk using his virgil. There was a chance ~'
Read it like this:
Of course he was hours (by road or even air) from any law to speak
of, and that was too long.
or rearranged slightly:
Of course he was hours from any law to speak of, by road or even air,
and that was too long.
I have ask - what is his "virgil"?
|
It's a sort of the pronoun of a communication apparatus in that novel, which
is a little bit smaller than a mobile phone but much smarter. |
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Raymond S. Wise
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 4:37 am
Post subject: Re: hours by road or even air from any law to speak of... |
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Rifleman wrote:
| Quote: | "david56" <bass.c.voice@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1bb5369e4b9ce2e398a81d@news.individual.net...
Rifleman typed thus:
The following paragraph is depicting a situation where a guy is
escaping a gunfight behind, and the third sentence (Ofcourse, he
was hours by ~) is so puzzling and I can't have even a hunch.
'He could keep going and do nothing. He could keep going, use his
virgil, and call for help. Of course he was hours by road or even
air from any law to speak of, and that was too long. Besides, until
he knew what he was facing, he couldn't risk using his virgil.
There was a chance ~'
Read it like this:
Of course he was hours (by road or even air) from any law to speak
of, and that was too long.
or rearranged slightly:
Of course he was hours from any law to speak of, by road or even air,
and that was too long.
I have ask - what is his "virgil"?
It's a sort of the pronoun of a communication apparatus in that
novel, which is a little bit smaller than a mobile phone but much
smarter.
|
Not "pronoun" (there are a limited number of those) but "nickname" (anything
can be given a nickname).
--
Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com |
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Martin Ambuhl
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 6:03 am
Post subject: Re: hours by road or even air from any law to speak of... |
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Rifleman wrote:
| Quote: | The following paragraph is depicting a situation where a guy is escaping a
gunfight behind, and the third sentence (Ofcourse, he was hours by ~) is so
puzzling and I can't have even a hunch.
'He could keep going and do nothing. He could keep going, use his virgil,
and call for help. Of course he was hours by road or even air from any law
to speak of, and that was too long. Besides, until he knew what he was
facing, he couldn't risk using his virgil. There was a chance ~'
|
I'm with you. I haven't a clue what a 'virgil' is. Perhaps he was
going to scare them with Latin poetry. |
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CB
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 7:43 am
Post subject: Re: hours by road or even air from any law to speak of... |
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"Martin Ambuhl" <mambuhl@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:2r1cakF14smu5U1@uni-berlin.de...
| Quote: | Rifleman wrote:
The following paragraph is depicting a situation where a guy is escaping
a
gunfight behind, and the third sentence (Ofcourse, he was hours by ~) is
so
puzzling and I can't have even a hunch.
'He could keep going and do nothing. He could keep going, use his
virgil,
and call for help. Of course he was hours by road or even air from any
law
to speak of, and that was too long. Besides, until he knew what he was
facing, he couldn't risk using his virgil. There was a chance ~'
I'm with you. I haven't a clue what a 'virgil' is. Perhaps he was
going to scare them with Latin poetry.
|
Is this science fiction? A "virgil" would be some kind of positioning
device or other non-living guide, performing the function of Virgil in
Dante's poem _Inferno_. (I know, you know; but maybe "Rifleman" doesn't.)
CDB |
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david56
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 2:15 pm
Post subject: Re: hours by road or even air from any law to speak of... |
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CB typed thus:
| Quote: |
"Martin Ambuhl" <mambuhl@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:2r1cakF14smu5U1@uni-berlin.de...
Rifleman wrote:
The following paragraph is depicting a situation where a guy is escaping
a
gunfight behind, and the third sentence (Ofcourse, he was hours by ~) is
so
puzzling and I can't have even a hunch.
'He could keep going and do nothing. He could keep going, use his
virgil,
and call for help. Of course he was hours by road or even air from any
law
to speak of, and that was too long. Besides, until he knew what he was
facing, he couldn't risk using his virgil. There was a chance ~'
I'm with you. I haven't a clue what a 'virgil' is. Perhaps he was
going to scare them with Latin poetry.
Is this science fiction? A "virgil" would be some kind of positioning
device or other non-living guide, performing the function of Virgil in
Dante's poem _Inferno_. (I know, you know; but maybe "Rifleman" doesn't.)
|
Ah. I thought perhaps it was an automatic pilot of Thunderbird 2.
--
David
===== |
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CB
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 7:01 pm
Post subject: Re: hours by road or even air from any law to speak of... |
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"david56" <bass.c.voice@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1bb5fef1ded45b5698a826@news.individual.net...
| Quote: | CB typed thus:
"Martin Ambuhl" <mambuhl@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:2r1cakF14smu5U1@uni-berlin.de...
Rifleman wrote:
The following paragraph is depicting a situation where a guy is
escaping
a
gunfight behind, and the third sentence (Ofcourse, he was hours by
~) is
so
puzzling and I can't have even a hunch.
'He could keep going and do nothing. He could keep going, use his
virgil,
and call for help. Of course he was hours by road or even air from
any
law
to speak of, and that was too long. Besides, until he knew what he
was
facing, he couldn't risk using his virgil. There was a chance ~'
I'm with you. I haven't a clue what a 'virgil' is. Perhaps he was
going to scare them with Latin poetry.
Is this science fiction? A "virgil" would be some kind of positioning
device or other non-living guide, performing the function of Virgil in
Dante's poem _Inferno_. (I know, you know; but maybe "Rifleman"
doesn't.)
Ah. I thought perhaps it was an automatic pilot of Thunderbird 2.
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That would fit. CDB |
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Alan Jones
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 8:49 pm
Post subject: Re: hours by road or even air from any law to speak of... |
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"nycram" <nycram@gmx.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.1bb4ed056bfff049989698@news.individual.net...
| Quote: | In article <cif764$aie$2@news1.kornet.net>, tellmewhatever@hotmail.com
says...
The following paragraph is depicting a situation where a guy is escaping
a
gunfight behind, and the third sentence (Ofcourse, he was hours by ~) is
so
puzzling and I can't have even a hunch.
'He could keep going and do nothing. He could keep going, use his virgil,
and call for help. Of course he was hours by road or even air from any
law
to speak of, and that was too long. Besides, until he knew what he was
facing, he couldn't risk using his virgil. There was a chance ~'
even if the lawmen used helicopters instead of cars (and didn't have to
follow roads), it would still take hours for them to reach him.
|
That's a correct paraphrase of the original.
But perhaps the difficulty is about the word "by"? In this kind of context,
its means "travelling by means of": "He was hours by road from any law to
speak of" means "It would take hours for any law officer to reach him by
travelling along the roads". Distance is often measured by time rather than
miles or kilometres: "How far is London from here? - Oh, about an hour by
train".
"Any law to speak of" means "Any effective system of law enforcement". This
pattern "Any/No X to speak of" is quite common. It means that there may be
some X but not enough to be meaningful or useful. If I have no money to
speak of, it means that I have only a very small sum of money.
Alan Jones |
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meirman
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:01 am
Post subject: Re: hours by road or even air from any law to speak of... |
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In alt.english.usage on Sat, 18 Sep 2004 02:37:08 +0900 "Rifleman"
<tellmewhatever@hotmail.com> posted:
| Quote: | The following paragraph is depicting a situation where a guy is escaping a
gunfight behind, and the third sentence (Ofcourse, he was hours by ~) is so
puzzling and I can't have even a hunch.
'He could keep going and do nothing. He could keep going, use his virgil,
and call for help. Of course he was hours by road or even air from any law
|
Start off with "He was miles from any law" and convert miles to time,
which is more important in this case.
"He was hours from any law."
And then, of course, when time is discussed, it depends how one is
traveling, by car or by helicopter or by plane, by road or by air.
| Quote: | to speak of, and that was too long. Besides, until he knew what he was
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I would probably say that was too *far*. But at least time has been
mentioned. Sometimes....
| Quote: | facing, he couldn't risk using his virgil. There was a chance ~'
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I think virgil should be either Virgil (Earp) or gerbil.
s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
Baltimore 20 years |
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