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le Carre: shot up

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Marius Hancu

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Jan 3, 2012, 5:42:35 AM1/3/12
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Hello:

--
He also knew, like everyone else, that a big operation had aborted in
Czechoslovakia, that the Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry had
jointly blown a gasket and that Jim Prideaux, head of the
scalphunters, the oldest Czecho hand, and Bill Haydon's lifelong
stringer, had been shot up and put in the bag.

John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
---

"stringer": action man?
I found:
---
A snitch or informant. A person who gossips about someone or who gives
information about them to authorities, often in exchange for
something.

Urban Dict.
---

"shot up": is "up" necessary? any difference in meaning with it?

"put in a bag": killed?

--
Thanks.
Marius Hancu

Leslie Danks

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Jan 3, 2012, 6:00:31 AM1/3/12
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I would normally interpret "shot" as "shot dead" and "shot up" as injured
by gunfire.

> "put in a bag": killed?

It's "put in _the_ bag"--meaning captured ("bagged").

--
Les
(BrE)

Don Phillipson

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Jan 3, 2012, 7:46:03 AM1/3/12
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"Marius Hancu" <marius...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:054ae0d0-b3dc-4446...@k29g2000vbl.googlegroups.com...

<<
He also knew, like everyone else, that a big operation had aborted in
Czechoslovakia, that the Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry had
jointly blown a gasket and that Jim Prideaux, head of the
scalphunters, the oldest Czecho hand, and Bill Haydon's lifelong
stringer, had been shot up and put in the bag.

John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
---

"stringer": action man?

I found:
---
A snitch or informant. A person who gossips about someone or who gives
information about them to authorities, often in exchange for
something.

Urban Dict.
>>

In newspapers, "stringer" is a part-time employee paid for piecework
(not on salary.) But we know that Prideaux was a lifelong and
pensionable MI6 "officer" (since head of the Scalphunters = physical
force crew) and not an "agent" (part-time helper:) so this might be
either an editorial slip or Circus jargon for an assistant or team member.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)


Marius Hancu

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Jan 3, 2012, 8:00:24 AM1/3/12
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On Jan 3, 7:46 am, "Don Phillipson" <e...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote:

> <<
> He also knew, like everyone else, that a big operation had aborted in
> Czechoslovakia, that the Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry had
> jointly blown a gasket and that Jim Prideaux, head of the
> scalphunters, the oldest Czecho hand, and Bill Haydon's lifelong
> stringer, had been shot up and put in the bag.
>
> John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
> ---
>
> "stringer": action man?
>
> I found:
> ---
> A snitch or informant. A person who gossips about someone or who gives
> information about them to authorities, often in exchange for
> something.
>
> Urban Dict.
>
>
>
> In newspapers, "stringer" is a part-time employee paid for piecework
> (not on salary.) But we know that Prideaux was a lifelong and
> pensionable MI6 "officer" (since head of the Scalphunters = physical
> force crew) and not an "agent" (part-time helper:) so this might be
> either an editorial slip or Circus jargon for an assistant or team member.

Great. Probably the 2nd.
Marius Hancu

James Hogg

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Jan 3, 2012, 8:09:35 AM1/3/12
to
A quotation from the OED:

1973 H. Trevelyan Diplomatic Channels vii. 116 They [sc.
intelligence services] employ stringers to get caught and occasionally
exchanged; but these are regarded by proper spies as an inferior form of
life and are not admitted to the international spy confraternity.

--
James

Marius Hancu

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Jan 3, 2012, 8:04:12 AM1/3/12
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On Jan 3, 6:00 am, Leslie Danks <leslie.da...@aon.at> wrote:

> > --
> > He also knew, like everyone else, that a big operation had aborted in
> > Czechoslovakia, that the Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry had
> > jointly blown a gasket and that Jim Prideaux, head of the scalphunters,
> > the oldest Czecho hand, and Bill Haydon's lifelong stringer, had been
> > shot up and put in the bag.
>
> > John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ---
>
> > "stringer": action man?
> > I found:
> > ---
> > A snitch or informant. A person who gossips about someone or who gives
> > information about them to authorities, often in exchange for something.
>
> > Urban Dict.
> > ---
>
> > "shot up": is "up" necessary? any difference in meaning with it?
>
> I would normally interpret "shot" as "shot dead" and "shot up" as injured
> by gunfire.

Great.

> > "put in a bag": killed?
>
> It's "put in _the_ bag"--meaning captured ("bagged").

I see.

Thanks.
Marius Hancu

David Dyer-Bennet

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Jan 3, 2012, 10:24:26 AM1/3/12
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Marius Hancu <marius...@gmail.com> writes:

> Hello:
>
> --
> He also knew, like everyone else, that a big operation had aborted in
> Czechoslovakia, that the Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry had
> jointly blown a gasket and that Jim Prideaux, head of the
> scalphunters, the oldest Czecho hand, and Bill Haydon's lifelong
> stringer, had been shot up and put in the bag.
>
> John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
> ---
>
> "stringer": action man?
> I found:
> ---
> A snitch or informant. A person who gossips about someone or who gives
> information about them to authorities, often in exchange for
> something.

It's a term used in journalism for a local person your organization uses
regularly but probably doesn't formally employ (contract employee with
history). And journalism has a LOT in common with spying :-).

> Urban Dict.
> ---
>
> "shot up": is "up" necessary? any difference in meaning with it?

"Shot up" implies more damage than just "shot", I think, though neither
has precise limits in that area.

> "put in a bag": killed?

Can mean "captured", too. Not clear from that one paragraph what it
means here. (I think of the phrase as "in the bag", definite rather
than indefinite article. I don't know if it's used in Le Carre's form
elsewhere, or if he's deliberately altering it, or what. "In the bag"
is so common I can't imagine him just getting it "wrong", though.
--
David Dyer-Bennet, dd...@dd-b.net; http://dd-b.net/
Snapshots: http://dd-b.net/dd-b/SnapshotAlbum/data/
Photos: http://dd-b.net/photography/gallery/
Dragaera: http://dragaera.info

tony cooper

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Jan 3, 2012, 10:34:43 AM1/3/12
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On Tue, 3 Jan 2012 07:46:03 -0500, "Don Phillipson"
<e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> wrote:

>"stringer": action man?
>
>I found:
>---
>A snitch or informant. A person who gossips about someone or who gives
>information about them to authorities, often in exchange for
>something.
>
>Urban Dict.
>>>
>
>In newspapers, "stringer" is a part-time employee paid for piecework
>(not on salary.)

I know nothing of spy networks, but the above is not a correct
description of a "stringer" in the newspaper field. A stringer is not
an employee of a newspaper.

I'm not sure if there are stringers anymore, but at one time
newspapers in large towns had a network of stringers in the smaller
surrounding towns. The stringer submitted copy to the newspaper about
events in the stringer's town and was paid by the column-inch for what
was printed.



--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

Robin Bignall

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Jan 3, 2012, 4:17:47 PM1/3/12
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On Tue, 3 Jan 2012 02:42:35 -0800 (PST), Marius Hancu
<marius...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Hello:
>
>--
>He also knew, like everyone else, that a big operation had aborted in
>Czechoslovakia, that the Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry had
>jointly blown a gasket and that Jim Prideaux, head of the
>scalphunters, the oldest Czecho hand, and Bill Haydon's lifelong
>stringer, had been shot up and put in the bag.
>
>John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
>---
>
>"stringer": action man?
>I found:
>---
>A snitch or informant. A person who gossips about someone or who gives
>information about them to authorities, often in exchange for
>something.
>
I think in this case 'stringer' just refers to sidekick or follower. One
gets the impression that Bill Haydon was the high-flyer (who turns out
to be the mole) and Prideaux followed in his wake like a puppy, his
great supporter.
--
Robin Bignall
(BrE)
Herts, England

Marius Hancu

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Jan 14, 2012, 7:50:41 AM1/14/12
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On Jan 3, 4:17 pm, Robin Bignall <docro...@ntlworld.com> wrote:

>
> >--
> >He also knew, like everyone else, that a big operation had aborted in
> >Czechoslovakia, that the Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry had
> >jointly blown a gasket and that Jim Prideaux, head of the
> >scalphunters, the oldest Czecho hand, and Bill Haydon's lifelong
> >stringer, had beenshotup and put in the bag.
>
> >John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
> >---
>
> >"stringer": action man?
> >I found:
> >---
> >A snitch or informant. A person who gossips about someone or who gives
> >information about them to authorities, often in exchange for
> >something.
>
> I think in this case 'stringer' just refers to sidekick or follower. One
> gets the impression that Bill Haydon was the high-flyer (who turns out
> to be the mole) and Prideaux followed in his wake like a puppy, his
> great supporter.

Ouch, this was a huge spoiler.

Marius Hancu

Marius Hancu

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Jan 14, 2012, 7:55:47 AM1/14/12
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On Jan 3, 6:00 am, Leslie Danks <leslie.da...@aon.at> wrote:

> > --
> > He also knew, like everyone else, that a big operation had aborted in
> > Czechoslovakia, that the Foreign Office and the Defence Ministry had
> > jointly blown a gasket and that Jim Prideaux, head of the scalphunters,
> > the oldest Czecho hand, and Bill Haydon's lifelong stringer, had been
> >shotup and put in the bag.
>
> > John le Carré, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ---
>
> > "stringer": action man?
> > I found:
> > ---
> > A snitch or informant. A person who gossips about someone or who gives
> > information about them to authorities, often in exchange for something.
>
> > Urban Dict.
> > ---
>
> > "shotup": is "up" necessary? any difference in meaning with it?
>
> I would normally interpret "shot" as "shot dead" and "shot up" as injured
> by gunfire.

Well, the book itself shows that needs to be clarified:
---
But when I told him that it was Jim who'd been shot, he looked at me
like a madman. Thought he was going to go for me. "Shot. Shot how?
Shot dead?" I shoved the bulletins into his hand and he tore through
them one by one-'
---
Thus, not automatic.

Marius Hancu

Leslie Danks

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Jan 14, 2012, 8:11:14 AM1/14/12
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Not many things are automatic in English.

The words I used were "normally interpret", and I still think that. If
someone was hit by a bullet and survived, I would expect something like
"shot in the arm". Perhaps others might think that "the man who shot
Liberty Valance" had only injured him, but for me it's perfectly clear
that Mr. Valance is dead. Bill Haydon's "Shot. Shot how? Shot dead?" could
be a request for confirmation. AIIRC, the people in London did think that
Jim was dead when they first heard the news that he'd been shot.

--
Les
(BrE)

Marius Hancu

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Jan 14, 2012, 9:06:05 AM1/14/12
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Thanks.
Marius Hancu

tony cooper

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Jan 14, 2012, 9:31:05 AM1/14/12
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I agree that "shot up" means wounded or killed by multiple gunshot
wounds. In your above quote, the person isn't told the Jim was "shot
up". He is told the person was shot.

"He was shot" does not tell you if the person was struck by one or by
many bullets or (shotgun) pellets. "He was shot up" tells you there
was more than one.
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