Parsing Help
Blinky the Shark
plenty of printings; it's from an established author; it's not something
I found on some blog.
"I was informed by the doctor that the marshes here are still
malarial, and the mosquitoes believed to have put paid to the
thriving Greek colony of antiquity, as active as ever."
Put paid? Might be a printo (but if it was, what was intended isn't
clear), but I'm thinking I'm just having a brain fart.
--
Blinky Linux Registered User 297263
Killing All Posts from GG: http://blinkynet.net/comp/uip5.html
Mark Steese
news:slrndj7gol....@thurston.blinkynet.net:
> I can't parse this sentence. It's from a book that's been through
> plenty of printings; it's from an established author; it's not something
> I found on some blog.
>
> "I was informed by the doctor that the marshes here are still
> malarial, and the mosquitoes believed to have put paid to the
> thriving Greek colony of antiquity, as active as ever."
>
> Put paid? Might be a printo (but if it was, what was intended isn't
> clear), but I'm thinking I'm just having a brain fart.
"Put paid" is a Briticism for "finished off" -- I think the reference is to
an account that's been paid off and closed. (I first encountered the phrase
in the comic book "V for Vendetta.")
--
Mark Steese
===========
The first signs of the death of the boom came in the summer,
early, and everything went like snow in the sun.
Out of their office windows. There was miasma,
a weight beyond enduring, the city reeked of failure.
Blinky the Shark
> Blinky the Shark <no....@box.invalid> wrote in
> news:slrndj7gol....@thurston.blinkynet.net:
>
>> I can't parse this sentence. It's from a book that's been through
>> plenty of printings; it's from an established author; it's not
>> something I found on some blog.
>>
>> "I was informed by the doctor that the marshes here are still
>> malarial, and the mosquitoes believed to have put paid to the
>> thriving Greek colony of antiquity, as active as ever."
>>
>> Put paid? Might be a printo (but if it was, what was intended isn't
>> clear), but I'm thinking I'm just having a brain fart.
>
> "Put paid" is a Briticism for "finished off" -- I think the reference
> is to an account that's been paid off and closed. (I first encountered
> the phrase in the comic book "V for Vendetta.")
Ah! Thanks, Mark. I'd never heard that. Indeed, it's from a Brit
author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Lewis For the record, the
first title mentioned in the text is the one I'm reading.
Nick Spalding
<slrndj7gol....@thurston.blinkynet.net>
on 23 Sep 2005 08:55:49 GMT:
> I can't parse this sentence. It's from a book that's been through
> plenty of printings; it's from an established author; it's not something
> I found on some blog.
>
> "I was informed by the doctor that the marshes here are still
> malarial, and the mosquitoes believed to have put paid to the
> thriving Greek colony of antiquity, as active as ever."
>
> Put paid? Might be a printo (but if it was, what was intended isn't
> clear), but I'm thinking I'm just having a brain fart.
'Put paid to' is a perfectly ordinary English phrase meaning 'finish
off'. Derived from accounting where one puts 'Paid' on an account that
has been paid.
--
Nick Spalding
Greg Johnson
wrote:
>I can't parse this sentence. It's from a book that's been through
>plenty of printings; it's from an established author; it's not something
>I found on some blog.
>
> "I was informed by the doctor that the marshes here are still
> malarial, and the mosquitoes believed to have put paid to the
> thriving Greek colony of antiquity, as active as ever."
>
>Put paid? Might be a printo (but if it was, what was intended isn't
>clear), but I'm thinking I'm just having a brain fart.
Just a figure of speech. 'put paid to' = ended, finished.
I was informed by the doctor that
(the marshes here are still malarial, and
(the mosquitoes
(believed to have put paid to
(the thriving Greek colony
of antiquity))
as active as ever))
The doctor said that the mosquitoes(that are believed to have caused the
abandonment of the ancient Greek colony) still carry malaria.
--
Greg Johnson
Peter Boulding
<slrndj7gol....@thurston.blinkynet.net>:
>I can't parse this sentence. It's from a book that's been through
>plenty of printings; it's from an established author; it's not something
>I found on some blog.
>
> "I was informed by the doctor that the marshes here are still
> malarial, and the mosquitoes believed to have put paid to the
> thriving Greek colony of antiquity, as active as ever."
>
>Put paid? Might be a printo (but if it was, what was intended isn't
>clear), but I'm thinking I'm just having a brain fart.
"Put paid to" is idiomatic - perhaps UK idiomatic - for "ended; finished;
delivered the coup de grace to". The sentence parses as follows:
[start main clause] I was informed by the doctor [start first noun clause -
object of informed] that the marshes here are still malarial, [end first
noun clause] and [start second noun clause, also object of informed] the
mosquitoes [start adjectival phrase] believed to have put paid to the
thriving Greek colony of antiquity, [end adjectival phrase] [are] as active
as ever. [end second noun clause] [end main clause]
--
Regards
Peter Boulding
p...@UNSPAMpboulding.co.uk (to e-mail, remove "UNSPAM")
Fractal music & images: http://www.pboulding.co.uk/
Lesmond
>
>
>I can't parse this sentence. It's from a book that's been through
>plenty of printings; it's from an established author; it's not something
>I found on some blog.
>
> "I was informed by the doctor that the marshes here are still
> malarial, and the mosquitoes believed to have put paid to the
> thriving Greek colony of antiquity, as active as ever."
>
>Put paid? Might be a printo (but if it was, what was intended isn't
>clear), but I'm thinking I'm just having a brain fart.
It's a fairly common expression. Did you try Googling? 257,000 results
including definitions.
--
Even now in Heaven there are angels carrying savage weapons.
Opus the Penguin
> I can't parse this sentence. It's from a book that's been through
> plenty of printings; it's from an established author; it's not
> something I found on some blog.
>
> "I was informed by the doctor that the marshes here are still
> malarial, and the mosquitoes believed to have put paid to the
> thriving Greek colony of antiquity, as active as ever."
>
> Put paid? Might be a printo (but if it was, what was intended
> isn't clear), but I'm thinking I'm just having a brain fart.
>
>
Well, you have your answer now. I'll just go on record as saying that's
*still* a really clumsily constructed sentence. I was aware of the
meaning of "put paid to" and it still took me a couple of reads to make
sure I knew what the dude was saying.
--
Opus the Penguin
The best darn penguin in all of Usenet
ra...@westnet.poe.com
> I can't parse this sentence. It's from a book that's been through
> plenty of printings; it's from an established author; it's not something
> I found on some blog.
> "I was informed by the doctor that the marshes here are still
> malarial, and the mosquitoes believed to have put paid to the
> thriving Greek colony of antiquity, as active as ever."
> Put paid? Might be a printo (but if it was, what was intended isn't
> clear), but I'm thinking I'm just having a brain fart.
"put paid" is this context means "finished" or I suppose more properly
"dealt a death blow". I've heard it before.
See: http://www.word-detective.com/030201.html
Case Closed.
Dear Word Detective: Can you explain the origin of the phrase "put paid
to," which I take to be synonymous with "put a stop to"? I can't find it
in any kind of dictionary, and native English speakers I approach with my
question just giggle hysterically and ask to be excused. -- Bengt
Carlsson, Stockholm, Sweden.
Well, I don't blame you for being mystified. Even for native English
speakers, that's pretty bizarre behavior. Are you certain that it's your
question that is causing the giggling? Perhaps your socks don't match and
that's the source of the hilarity. I've tried saying "put paid to" in a
variety of accents myself, and while the cat did snicker at my French
version, I can't see anything inherently funny in the phrase.
My best guess is that the people you're asking simply don't know what the
phrase means, a distinct possibility if they're not British. "Put paid to"
means, as you've gathered, to put an end to or to stop something with
utter finality, and is heard almost exclusively in Great Britain and
Commonwealth countries. "Put paid to," which first appeared in English in
the early 20th century, probably originally referred to an accounting
ledger, where to "put," or mark, "paid" next to a notation of debt means
that the debt is expunged, the slate is wiped clean, and the matter is
definitively closed.
Metaphorically, "put paid to" can be applied to anything from sabotaging
one's career ("Murphy's mismatched socks put paid to his hopes for
promotion") to utter destruction ("One well-placed cruise missile put paid
to the sock factory").
"Put paid to" is reminiscent of another somewhat mysterious phrase -- "to
put the kibosh on," also meaning, since the 1830s, to put a definite end
to something. Many authorities believe that "kibosh" (pronounced
"ky-bosh") comes from the Gaelic phrase "cie bais", meaning "cap of
death." Evidently, in trials in ancient Ireland, the "cie bais," a black
skullcap, was donned by the judge before he sentenced a prisoner to death,
and apparently the phrase "cie bais" is still an established metaphor in
modern Irish.
John
--
Remove the dead poet to e-mail, tho CC'd posts are unwelcome.
Mean People Suck - It takes two deviations to get cool.
Ask me about joining the NRA.
Hank Gillette
Mark Steese <mark_...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> "Put paid" is a Briticism for "finished off" -- I think the reference is to
> an account that's been paid off and closed. (I first encountered the phrase
> in the comic book "V for Vendetta.")
Oh, shoot. I thought for a second the new Sue Grafton was out.
--
Hank Gillette
"There's nothing more pathetic than watching someone who's out of touch feign
being in touch." -- Maureen Dowd (referring to Bush)
Hank Gillette
Nick Spalding <spal...@iol.ie> wrote:
> 'Put paid to' is a perfectly ordinary English phrase meaning 'finish
> off'. Derived from accounting where one puts 'Paid' on an account that
> has been paid.
OK, but you guys really don't go around telling people that you will
knock them up, do you?
can...@thelast.mile
wrote:
Well that explains it, except that it still doesn't make sense.
"I was informed by the doctor that the marshes here are still
malarial, and the mosquitoes believed to have finished off (finish
off?) to the thriving Greek colony of antiquity, as active as ever."
Insoforth as much as I doth forthwith stumble 'tween rows to my
quarters I shall strive to maintain a modicum of coherence.
Whatever!
--
candeh
Chip C
There are some implicit bits that introduce the adjectival phrases.
[Doc told me two things:]
[A] that the marshes here are still malarial, and
[B] [that] the m's [that were/are] believed to have [killed the Greeks]
[are [still]] as active as ever.
The "are" that starts "[are] as active as ever is implicit, based on
symmetry with the first "are" in "are still malarial". Eliding in
symmetry is perfectly kosher but when done at two different levels of
hierarchy (the "that" is also elided) reduces redundancy to the point
where once you're off track you've got nothing to re-synch to. It's a
sentance that took the writer a couple of passes to create, and will
take the reader a couple of passes to parse, for the sake of a certain
poetic flow that's probably valued less now than [it was] then.
Chip C
[in] Toronto
Dana Carpender
Hank Gillette wrote:
> In article <j7l7j1llvk0sa66lb...@4ax.com>,
> Nick Spalding <spal...@iol.ie> wrote:
>
>
>>'Put paid to' is a perfectly ordinary English phrase meaning 'finish
>>off'. Derived from accounting where one puts 'Paid' on an account that
>>has been paid.
>
>
> OK, but you guys really don't go around telling people that you will
> knock them up, do you?
>
They also go around telling each other to keep their peckers up. Maybe
we should ship them some Viagra...
Dana
Bill Turlock
Motto!
Summary!
John Dean
> In article <j7l7j1llvk0sa66lb...@4ax.com>,
> Nick Spalding <spal...@iol.ie> wrote:
>
>> 'Put paid to' is a perfectly ordinary English phrase meaning 'finish
>> off'. Derived from accounting where one puts 'Paid' on an account
>> that has been paid.
>
> OK, but you guys really don't go around telling people that you will
> knock them up, do you?
Sure. It used to be a well paid profession in my great grandmother's
day. She, like most people in her street, paid a guy to knock her up
every morning. He was called, obviously, the knocker-up. Or, by some
people, the knocker-upper.
e.g.
http://www.wiganworld.co.uk/album/showalbumpic2.asp?pic=ron25b.jpg&w=498&h=794&opt=album3&subopt=knocker
http://tinyurl.com/bb7st
Any American examples of a man who can reach from his trousers to a
bedroom window are welcome
Or http://www.franceslennon.com/viewprint.asp?printID=88
--
John Dean
Oxford
darkon
> There are some implicit bits that introduce the adjectival
> phrases.
>
> [Doc told me two things:]
> [A] that the marshes here are still malarial, and
> [B] [that] the m's [that were/are] believed to have [killed the
> Greeks] [are [still]] as active as ever.
>
> The "are" that starts "[are] as active as ever is implicit,
> based on symmetry with the first "are" in "are still malarial".
> Eliding in symmetry is perfectly kosher but when done at two
> different levels of hierarchy (the "that" is also elided)
> reduces redundancy to the point where once you're off track
> you've got nothing to re-synch to.
I found those two sentences harder to parse than the sentence Blinky
posted.