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Some time ago I came across this anecdote about the actor Cary Grant.
A news reporter was trying to find when Cary Grant was born, so he sent the following telegram to Grant's agent:
"HOW OLD CARY GRANT"
As it happened, Cary Grant himself picked the telegram and, upon reading it, sent back the answer:
"OLD CARY GRANT FINE. HOW YOU"
I quite liked this little story and was wondering if any of you native english-speakers can give any example of sentences with double meaning or sentences that, by lacking a word, can have a different meaning.
Thank you.
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It's difficult for me to understand. Just because I'm not a native speaker!
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It can be read two ways:
How old Cary Grant - inquiring about his age
How (is) old Cary Grant - asking how Cary Grant is doing
The reason is that in a telegram words like "is", "the", "a" etc are implied, that is, a sentence is comprehensible without them.
But there are certain sentences where this is dubious and one can read more than one meaning.
I don't think I ever sent a telegram (I'm 30), but I guess that in the age of email and the average age of internet users being low, asking you people to understand what telegram-writing is may be too much!...
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There's a delicious old Hollywood anecdote that when Bette Davis was about to open a new play, the outrageously flamboyant, bisexual film and theater actress, Tallulah Bankhead sent her a telegram that read:
"KISSES ON YOUR OPENING."
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If you are interested in double meanings and clever expressions, get a "Book of Quotes"
I saw another post, which pointed out that the word "hard", had a sexual meaning, and it made me think of a famous quote.
"Is that a gun in your pocket? Or are you just glad to see me!" Mae West
There are two Mae West pages that I have come across.
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/2440/west.html
http://www.kithrup.com/~ariyana/maewest.html
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One that I hear people saying occasionally is "I need my hair cutting badly", when what they really mean is "I badly need my hair cutting".
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I've never heard anyone say "I need my hair cutting" ever. Must be an Americanism.
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<<I've never heard anyone say "I need my hair cutting" ever. Must be an Americanism.>>
I'm an American and I've never heard that expression in my life. (Also, Rick Johnson is from England.)
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"I need my hair cutting." sounds like something people say in England, zxczxc. Where are you from?
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Viri,
Perhaps this would be clearer.
"It can be read two ways:
"'How old is Cary Grant?' - inquiring about his age
"'How is old Cary Grant?' - asking how Cary Grant, who is old, is doing"
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Another story from an English textbook for Russian students
One man from Europe once decided to visit his English friend. When crossing the English channel by vessel, there was a storm. The captain commanded : "HANDS ON DECK!". The guy put his hands on the deck and somebody trod on them.
In England he put up at a hotel. And when he was in the hotel room he heard somebody shout :"WATCH OUT!". He looked out of the window and a bucket of water was poured upon him.
Next morning he went to see his friend. He came to the friend's house, the servant opened and said : "Mr Smith IS NOT UP YET". The guy walked around for awhile and when some time after he came to his friend's house again, the servant said : "Mr Smith IS NOT DOWN YET".
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<<I need my hair cutting>>
It's a fairly common thing to say when ones barnet* is overgrown!
*Barnet Fair = Hair
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