Chris Croughton wrote:
> On Fri, 20 May 2005 23:24:52 -0400, Robert Lieblich
> <robert.lieblich@verizon.net> wrote:
>
> > English is full of idioms that make no sense if taken literally.
Consider a
> > sentence of the form "The ______ has been changed many times." As
you realize,
> > if you're talking about a plan the changing is of the contents of
the plan. But
> > if you put "baby" in the blank, the sentence means that the baby's
*diaper* has
> > been changed many times. And if you put "teacher" in the blank, it
means that
> > several different people have held the position of teacher --
usually a specific
> > position, as in "The teacher of the third grade has been changed
many times."
> > It's even possible to put "dollar" in the blank, in which case it
means that a
> > given dollar has been converted into "change" (coins) many times
(unlikely, but
> > that's the most plausible meaning of that sentence).
>
> Interesting, I would have understood "the dollar has been changed
many
> times" to refer to changing the format of the banknote. Or does that
> not happen with (US) banknotes? The UK ones have been through a
number
> of format changes in my lifetime, getting smaller, changing colour
and
> pattern (with pictures of different people), that's true for (at
least
> some) European currency as well.
>
> Chris C
Two points about this. "The teacher has been changed" is a passive
structure. Due to the fact that the agent is not mentioned, we could
say that it means a number of things. This is one of the reasons why
the passive is used in the first place.
"My room has been broken into!" said by a member of a group home, is
far less directly accusatory than "One of you has broken into my room!"
I kept on waiting for this point to show up in this thread and it never
did. The structural linguistics/language chunk approach is one that I
didn't expect, even though I should have.
US banknotes (we more commonly call them "bills") have not changed much
in the last hundred or so years. After decades of wrangling and hidden
changes like the addition of microprinting and security threads, the
government finally introduced what it called a major redesign: they
used new, larger engravings for the faces, added some holographic ink
to the corner, and built in a few additional barriers to casual
counterfeiting by means of color scanners, copiers and other such
amateurish methods.
A lot of people, myself included, feel that Europeans have followed, by
far, a more sensible approach to the problem. However, every time I
look at the euros in my pocket nowadays, I think "Monopoly money." I
mean, all the different colors, the sizes, the holograms...especially
with those holograms, the money looks like something that kids should
be trading on the sidewalk for bubble gum cigarettes and cat's-eye
marbles
Most importantly, for myself, I don't like the fact that with the
different sizes of the euro notes, you can't make up what's called a
"flash wad," where you fold up forty or so one-dollar bills and wrap
two fifties around it. Put it all in a rhinestone-studded money clip
(you can even get one custom-made with your own picture on it and some
flashing LEDs among the rhinestones)). When you go to a bar and pay for
your first drink, you produce your money, lick your thumb slowly while
displaying the flash wad prominently, and peel off the first bill to
pay for your drink.
Voila! Steady service all night! Even better, there's a good chance
that you can score easily without the nasty fuss, mess and expense of
Rohypnol!
--Credo, quai absurdum
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