the right meaning

snappy   Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:48 pm GMT
i'am not a native speaker and i have found it too difficult to understand these phrases from Lodge's original. If anyone could help me to make them more understandable for me, i will be more than grateful. Cheers.

"Mind you,“ Sutcliff added, “I don’t think it’s just lack of funds that has kept him at home lately. I have a hunch that Hilary read him the riot act.” “Mrs. Swallow?” “Yes. He used to get up at all kinds of high jinks on those trips, by all accounts. I suppose I ought to tell you: Swallow has a bit of a weakness where women are concerned. Forewarned is forearmed.” (Lodge)

As a piece of action in a Victorian novel she might have judged it harshly as a case of one bourgeois supporting another when the chips were down, but she had persuaded herself that if it was for the greater good of the factory workers – not to save Wilcox skin – that she had lied…”So that was the story we agreed on: I would tell Danny Ram that I got the wrong end of the stick at the meeting, and misunderstood the discussion…” (Lodge)
snappy   Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:07 pm GMT
please, at least the phrases. thanks
Liz   Tue Mar 27, 2007 10:27 pm GMT
What are the phrases that you don´t understand?
Uriel   Thu Mar 29, 2007 1:29 am GMT
<<"Mind you,“ Sutcliff added, “I don’t think it’s just lack of funds that has kept him at home lately. I have a hunch that Hilary read him the riot act.” “Mrs. Swallow?” “Yes. He used to get up at all kinds of high jinks on those trips, by all accounts. I suppose I ought to tell you: Swallow has a bit of a weakness where women are concerned. Forewarned is forearmed.” (Lodge)>>


I'll take a guess as to which idioms are confusing you:


Mind you -- just calls attention to what follows next -- to mind means to pay attention

Read the riot act -- lay down the law, give someone an ultimatum regarding their behavior

High jinks or hijinks -- misbehavior, devious actions

By all accounts -- according to information from various sources

Weakness for women -- he cheats on his wife with other women

Forewarned is forearmed -- if you have advance knowledge, you can better prepare yourself for a situation




<<As a piece of action in a Victorian novel she might have judged it harshly as a case of one bourgeois supporting another when the chips were down, but she had persuaded herself that if it was for the greater good of the factory workers – not to save Wilcox skin – that she had lied…”So that was the story we agreed on: I would tell Danny Ram that I got the wrong end of the stick at the meeting, and misunderstood the discussion…” (Lodge) >>

When the chips are down -- when things are not going well (poker reference -- your stacks of gambling chips are being depleted)

To save someone's skin -- to come to their rescue, or cover for them

The wrong end of the stick -- unfair treatment (literally a joke about being beaten with a stick -- if you are on the right end of the stick, you are the one holding it and doing the hitting; if you are on the wrong end of it, you are the one being whacked with the other end...)
David B   Thu Mar 29, 2007 7:18 am GMT
'to get the wrong end of the stick' means to understand a situation in completely the wrong way, hence the following 'and misunderstood the discussion' in the passage
Rene   Thu Mar 29, 2007 2:36 pm GMT
RE: "getting the wrong end of the stick"

I once watched a show on personal hygene throughout the ages. Apparently, the Romans used to have public restrooms(I know that's not what they were called, but for lack of a better phrase...), and to wipe themselves there were buckets placed in front of them with water inside and a stick with a sponge on one end. According to this show, to get the wrong end of the stick would be something that would happen if the person in front of you left the stick in the bucket sponge side up, thus, you grab the sponge that has wiped about a hundred people before you. Pretty gross, and something that's sort of stuck in my mind ever since I heard it.
snappy   Thu Mar 29, 2007 6:18 pm GMT
Thanks guys, youve helped me a lot. The origins were brilliant. :)))) But do you really use these phrases in every-day speech? If so, I really feel at sea whether to carry on learning English further on in the future...:(