"Traverse the landscape"
Wordsmith
kind of pretentious, maybe even cliche.
What's a better way to say it?
W : )
Nate Branscom
How pretentious is the rest going to be? As long as it fits with the
rest of the material, I say keep it.
-- Nate
Tony Cooper
wrote:
>I want to use this phrase in a piece of creative writing, but it feels
>kind of pretentious, maybe even cliche.
>What's a better way to say it?
What do you want to describe? Look up the verb meanings for
"traverse". Travel across? Move to and fro? Climb at an angle?
What's traversing? A person? A horse? A tank? The view from
binoculars? A laser beam?
Think of the scene in _Dr Zhivago_ where Yuri and Lara are in the
troika in the snow. Would you describe them as traversing the
landscape?
"Traverse the landscape" doesn't have any meaning by itself. How can
a "better" phrase be offered if it's not clear what you are
describing?
--
Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL
Wordsmith
On Dec 21, 11:08 pm, Tony Cooper <tony_cooper...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> On 21 Dec 2006 21:50:10 -0800, "Wordsmith" <wordsm...@rocketmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >I want to use this phrase in a piece of creative writing, but it feels
> >kind of pretentious, maybe even cliche.
> >What's a better way to say it? What do you want to describe? Look up the verb meanings for
> "traverse". Travel across? Move to and fro? Climb at an angle?
>
> What's traversing? A person? A horse? A tank? The view from
> binoculars? A laser beam?
>
> Think of the scene in _Dr Zhivago_ where Yuri and Lara are in the
> troika in the snow. Would you describe them as traversing the
> landscape?
Haven't see it yet.
> "Traverse the landscape" doesn't have any meaning by itself. How can
> a "better" phrase be offered if it's not clear what you are
> describing?
It's part of someone's voice over narration in a film script, a bona
fide vocative from
a writer-explorer who's seeking research data for a soon-to-be-written
novel.
W
Mark Brader
> kind of pretentious, maybe even cliche.
> What's a better way to say it?
Creatively.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "This one isn't close. It's not even close to
m...@vex.net | being close." --Adam Beneschan
TOF
Can you traverse a landscape? Maybe, in a metaphorical sense.
Landscapes are to be looked at, surely.
TOF
HVS
A landscape has to be visually identifiable/distinctive to be a
landscape, but once that criterion is met I don't see why one can't
physically cross the resulting area of visual distinctiveness.
--
Cheers, Harvey
Canadian and British English, indiscriminately mixed
For e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van
Evan Kirshenbaum
> Think of the scene in _Dr Zhivago_ where Yuri and Lara are in the
> troika in the snow.
They had a threesome in the snow?
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |As the judge remarked the day that
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 | he acquitted my Aunt Hortense,
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |To be smut
|It must be ut-
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com |Terly without redeeming social
(650)857-7572 | importance.
| Tom Lehrer
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/
Skitt
> Tony Cooper writes:
>> Think of the scene in _Dr Zhivago_ where Yuri and Lara are in the
>> troika in the snow.
>
> They had a threesome in the snow?
Of horses, of courses.
--
Skitt (in Hayward, California)
http://www.geocities.com/opus731/
Marius Hancu
Wordsmith wrote:
"Traverse a landscape"
over 300 hits at Yahoo, thus it wouldn't be totally original.
Also, I would argue that only the definition 2b here could be
reasonably applied:
--------
land·scape
1 a : a picture representing a view of natural scenery (as fields,
hills, forests, water) <landscape painting> -- compare MARINE 5;
SEASCAPE b : the art of depicting such scenery
2 a : the surface of the earth : the landforms of a region in the
aggregate especially as produced or modified by geologic forces <most
landscapes are complex rather than simple -- Leland Horberg> <glacial
landscapes> <lunar landscape> b : a portion of land or territory that
the eye can comprehend in a single view including all the objects so
seen <plans for altering the landscape> <landscape engineering>
http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com
---------
Marius Hancu
TOF
HVS wrote:
> On 22 Dec 2006, TOF wrote
>
> >
> > Wordsmith wrote:
> >> I want to use this phrase in a piece of creative writing, but
> >> it feels kind of pretentious, maybe even cliche.
> >> What's a better way to say it?
> >>
> >> W : )
> >
> > Can you traverse a landscape? Maybe, in a metaphorical sense.
> >
> > Landscapes are to be looked at, surely.
>
> A landscape has to be visually identifiable/distinctive to be a
> landscape, but once that criterion is met I don't see why one can't
> physically cross the resulting area of visual distinctiveness.
>
>
I suppose for me a "landscape" is a kind of snapshot of the things one
might see from a particular (perhaps notional) vantage point in time
and space. The idea of someone "traversing" it implies the effluxion of
time, during which one must assume the landscape will change. Indeed,
if someone really is traversing it, it will change in part because what
is perceptible at any given moment will be marginally different.
There's also an ambiguity in the original formulation, in that it's not
clear *whose* landscape it is. The "traverser" can never traverse his
or her own landscape, any more than one can reach one's own horizon. On
the other hand, one can "traverse the sweeping plains of [...] and the
sea of [...] perfectly well.
TOF
tinwhistler
A near-precedent for "cross the land:"
"...A tunnel underneath the sea from Calais straight to Dover, Sir,
The squeamish folks may cross by land from shore to shore, With sluices
made to drown the French, if e'er they would come over, Sir, Has long
been talk'd of, till at length 'tis thought a monstrous bore...."
Author: Theodore Hook
Topic: Prophecy (Prophesy)
Source: Bubbles of 1825, in "John Bull"
http://www.worldofquotes.com/search.php
Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego
Tony Cooper
wrote:
>
>Wordsmith wrote:
>
>> I want to use this phrase in a piece of creative writing, but it feels
>> kind of pretentious, maybe even cliche.
>> What's a better way to say it?
>>
>> W : )
>
>"Traverse a landscape"
>over 300 hits at Yahoo, thus it wouldn't be totally original.
>
>Also, I would argue that only the definition 2b here could be
>reasonably applied:
>
>--------
>land新cape
>
>1 a : a picture representing a view of natural scenery (as fields,
>hills, forests, water) <landscape painting> -- compare MARINE 5;
>SEASCAPE b : the art of depicting such scenery
>
>2 a : the surface of the earth : the landforms of a region in the
>aggregate especially as produced or modified by geologic forces <most
>landscapes are complex rather than simple -- Leland Horberg> <glacial
>landscapes> <lunar landscape> b : a portion of land or territory that
>the eye can comprehend in a single view including all the objects so
>seen <plans for altering the landscape> <landscape engineering>
>
>http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com
>---------
I have a great deal of trouble thinking of a person "traversing the
landscape". If Wordsmith is using it as a descriptive phrase for the
travel of a person, it's a horrible usage. Horrible.
I can picture a man's view "traversing the landscape". Standing on a
hill, for example, searching the area for enemy troops.
CDB
> HVS wrote:
[...]
>> A landscape has to be visually identifiable/distinctive to be a
>> landscape, but once that criterion is met I don't see why one can't
>> physically cross the resulting area of visual distinctiveness.
>
> I suppose for me a "landscape" is a kind of snapshot of the things
> one might see from a particular (perhaps notional) vantage point in
> time and space. The idea of someone "traversing" it implies the
> effluxion of time, [....]
Why did you say "effluxion"?
C. Travers Larue
Robert Lieblich
Hey, I've figured that out: "Rare" didn't fit.
--
Bob Lieblich
Very infrequent
Tony Cooper
"Reaching the women's equivalent is more challenging. It entails
traversing a hall where the tourists gather, or entering the minority
leader's office, navigating a corridor that winds past secretarial
desks and punching in a keypad code."
From an article in the newspaper about the inconveniently located
women's bathrooms in the House of Representatives.
Marius Hancu
TOF wrote:
> I suppose for me a "landscape" is a kind of snapshot of the things one
> might see from a particular (perhaps notional) vantage point in time
> and space. The idea of someone "traversing" it implies the effluxion of
> time, during which one must assume the landscape will change. Indeed,
> if someone really is traversing it, it will change in part because what
> is perceptible at any given moment will be marginally different.
Similarly, to me it's a picture, which can't be really traversed,
except by stretching the notion.
Marius Hancu
Richard Maurer
Think of the scene in _Dr Zhivago_ where
Yuri and Lara are in the troika in the snow.
traversing the landscape?
TOF wrote:
Can you traverse a landscape?
Maybe, in a metaphorical sense.
Landscapes are to be looked at, surely.
"Traverse the landscape" fits best when the landscape
is viewed from a warm and comfortable compartment inside
a moving train, where the only view is from a side window.
-- ---------------------------------------------
Richard Maurer To reply, remove half
Sunnyvale, California of a homonym of a synonym for also.
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