re: superintended the setting out of the table for boston

[tonbei]

I have a question about the following sentences from a novel.

the general with parental authority superintended the setting out of the table for boston
(War and Peace by L.Tolstoy in English translation)

context: in an everning party, an general, who was an guest, behaved like a boss, and
orderd a table to be brought for a card game.

question: about the meaning of "superintended the setting out of the table"
Context must say that a table was requested to be drawn out of the setting, to play a card.
But I couldn't get this meaning out of the sentence quoted.

[Harrison Hill]

"...a general, who was a guest..."

"Superintended" means "took charge". "Setting out of the
table for boston", would involve finding four chairs,
positioning them; and the cards; and the ash-trays; and
putting everything in its rightful place.

Boston (I would capitalise it): "an 18th-century trick-taking
card game played throughout the Western world apart from
Britain" - according to wiki; which explains why I have never
played it.

[tonbei]

>
> "Superintended" means "took charge". "Setting out of the
> table for boston", would involve finding four chairs,
> positioning them; and the cards; and the ash-trays; and
> putting everything in its rightful place.
>

you say: setting out / of the table instead of setting / out of the table?
If so, it could make sense.

"set / out of table" wouldn't make sense.
But "setting out/ of the table" feels odd in terms of sentence structure.

[tonbei]

I got it, thanks.

"setting out" here is a gerundial phrase, which I failed to see that way
so that I was puzzled.

[Peter T. Daniels]

You continue to read an archaic translation. Maybe it was the first one ever done.

Of course you're going to encounter phrases that are no longer used.

The card game "Boston" was discussed here within living memory. Did you enquire
about this sentence previously?

[tonbei]

"boston" is not a problem here, since I'd gotten its sense.

I thought about acquiring a current translation given by Kindle, but
one must pay for it.

[Charles Bishop]

In article <916f0812-814a-4ce6...@googlegroups.com>,

tonbei <aut...@infoseek.jp> wrote:

> >
> > "Superintended" means "took charge". "Setting out of the
> > table for boston", would involve finding four chairs,
> > positioning them; and the cards; and the ash-trays; and
> > putting everything in its rightful place.
> >
>
> you say: setting out / of the table instead of setting / out of the table?
> If so, it could make sense.

In my Eng it would be "the setting out of the table", with "the" added
to describe the process.

>
> "set / out of table" wouldn't make sense.
> But "setting out/ of the table" feels odd in terms of sentence structure.

--
charles

[tonbei]

>
> In my Eng it would be "the setting out of the table", with "the" added
> to describe the process.
>

"the setting-out of the table for boston" would have been very clearer,
especially for non-natives.
or, setting out the table for boston seems current.

[Robert Bannister]

I think we might say "the setting up of the table", which may even have
been a folding table, but "setting out" makes sense with regard to the
exact positioning of it.

--
Robert B. born England a long time ago;
Western Australia since 1972

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

Yes. The words "ordered a table to be brought for a card game" are
consistent with the table having been brought into the room or having
been moved from elsewhere in the room. There are many sub-senses of "set
out" given in the OED. These might be relevant ones:

21.
a. To arrange (a table, a room, etc.) for a meal or other purpose;
to spread (a table, etc.) with ornaments, etc.; to dress (a window).

b. To put out or arrange (things necessary for a meal, game, etc.),
esp. on a table; to lay (a meal).

In this case in War and Peace the table had been brought from somewhere
else and the "setting out" could include putting it in a suitable place,
providing chairs round it and putting the necessary cards on the table.

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[snide...@gmail.com]

On Monday, May 8, 2017 at 5:53:45 AM UTC-7, tonbei wrote:
> "boston" is not a problem here, since I'd gotten its sense.
>
> I thought about acquiring a current translation given by Kindle, but
> one must pay for it.

The Project Gutenberg translation is dated 1939 (Maude and Maude).
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2600/2600-h/2600-h.htm

relevant excerpt:

Natásha only desisted when she had been told that there would be pineapple ice.
Before the ices, champagne was served round. The band again struck up,
the count and countess kissed, and the guests, leaving their seats,
went up to “congratulate” the countess, and reached across the table
to clink glasses with the count, with the children, and with one another.
Again the footmen rushed about, chairs scraped, and in the same order
in which they had entered but with redder faces, the guests returned to
the drawing room and to the count’s study.

CHAPTER XX

The card tables were drawn out, sets made up for boston, and the count’s visitors settled themselves, some in the two drawing rooms, some in the sitting room, some in the library.


/dps

[snide...@gmail.com]

FWIW, I have read _War and Peace_, as an adult.
Hardback edition with light purple (if not lavender) covers,
probably mid-60s printing.

Just today I heard a synopsis of the Prokofiev opera's first act.
My thought was, "the names sound kind of familiar,
but the events aren't in my memory banks at all."

(My brother read it in high school during a summer break, but I wasn't as motivated. I think I read his copy, some years later.)

/dps

[Janet]

In article <ctbishop-A34214...@news.individual.net>,
ctbi...@earthlink.net says...

"Setting out the table" implies the fetching, erection, positioning
of the furniture (table and chairs) for a card game.

You might have in mind a similar phrase "setting the table". That
has a different meaning from moving the furniture. It's about preparing
a dining table for the service of a meal (cloth, cutlery, glasses plates
flowers etc).

Janet