Grisham: Like a hog rutting in mud
Marius Hancu
"Like a hog rutting in mud"
does it imply
in a state of rut, or having sex
or
making ruts/furrows, wallowing?
I'm asking, as the intransitive seems to imply only the first, and the
transitive only the 2nd, while in the quotation we seem to have the
intransitive one.
---
[Gavin has resentments vs his wife]
Gavin emerged with shaving cream on half his face, and took the
receiver from his wife, who burrowed deep into the bed. Like a hog
rutting in mud, he thought.
“Hello,” he snapped.
John Grisham, The Pelican Brief
---
--
Thanks.
Marius Hancu
Doug
It refers to hogs making ruts and furrows. Pigs eat all kinds of food
including roots and such. Pigs will dig up a relatively large area with
their noses given a chance. They also dig holes to lie in when it's hot.
Pat Durkin
"Doug" <almostnormal...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:d8GdnbcwCZ1jm7XR...@posted.localnet...
I have never heard of a rooting hog as rutting. Every now and then I
have found some of Grisham's terminology irritating. It may be a
southern thing, of course.
Cheryl P.
churned up by their digging and rooting. Sex with his wife is as dirty
and disgusting as pigs having sex in the mud.
I have been told by people who have met more live pigs than I have that
this sort of comparison is a libel on pigs, which are really intelligent
and clean animals, and that they only live in mud when kept in sties.
Since my encounters with pigs have always been after they were dead and
cut up for sale in the supermarket, I don't know how true this is.
--
Cheryl P.
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
I think that in the quotation the wife handed the phone to her husband
Gavin and then snuggled sensually into a comfortable position. Gavin
thought that looked like the movement of a hog in mud.
I am unsure what the author means by "rutting".
The OneLook.com quick definitions of the verb are:
be in a state of sexual excitement; of male mammals
hollow out in the form of a furrow or groove
other dictionaries include the (female) state of (o)estrus.
The author might be hinting at both meanings.
>I have been told by people who have met more live pigs than I have that
>this sort of comparison is a libel on pigs, which are really intelligent
>and clean animals, and that they only live in mud when kept in sties.
I've heard that too.
>Since my encounters with pigs have always been after they were dead and
>cut up for sale in the supermarket, I don't know how true this is.
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
HVS
> Pat Durkin wrote:
> I thought it would mean simply that when pigs rut, they do so in the mud
> churned up by their digging and rooting. Sex with his wife is as dirty
> and disgusting as pigs having sex in the mud.
>
> I have been told by people who have met more live pigs than I have that
> this sort of comparison is a libel on pigs, which are really intelligent
> and clean animals, and that they only live in mud when kept in sties.
That plural always looks so weird to me (although "stys" looks even more
wrong) that I think I'd wind up writing "...they only live in mud when kept
in a sty".
--
Cheers, Harvey
CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed
Don Phillipson
news:621f0fd1-65d3-4f0e...@z10g2000yqb.googlegroups.com...
> "Like a hog rutting in mud" . . .
>
> Gavin emerged with shaving cream on half his face, and took the
> receiver from his wife, who burrowed deep into the bed. Like a hog
> rutting in mud, he thought.
>
> “Hello,” he snapped.
>
> John Grisham, The Pelican Brief
We cannot specify whether this is a colloquialism or an editorial
mistake. In standard English we say pigs (English) or hogs
(American) root (verb), viz. excavate the ground with their noses
(seeking food.) This is normal behavior (exploited by farmers to
remove grass and prepare ground for tillage.) US English also
has a proverb: "Root, hog, or die!" meaning "Go to work" (root
in this phrase being the verb, imperative mood.)
Google would probably show us how many Americans interchange
the verbs Root and Rut as if synonymous. To my eye this is an error
but descriptivists may not complain.
The second editorial point of error is suddenly mixed metaphors:
(burrowing is what rabbits do, rooting characteristic of pigs.)
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
Marius Hancu
> > "Like a hog rutting in mud" . . .
>
> > Gavin emerged with shaving cream on half his face, and took the
> > receiver from his wife, who burrowed deep into the bed. Like a hog
> > rutting in mud, he thought.
>
> > Hello, he snapped.
>
> We cannot specify whether this is a colloquialism or an editorial
> mistake. In standard English we say pigs (English) or hogs
> (American) root (verb), viz. excavate the ground with their noses
> (seeking food.) This is normal behavior (exploited by farmers to
> remove grass and prepare ground for tillage.) US English also
> has a proverb: "Root, hog, or die!" meaning "Go to work" (root
> in this phrase being the verb, imperative mood.)
>
> Google would probably show us how many Americans interchange
> the verbs Root and Rut as if synonymous. To my eye this is an error
> but descriptivists may not complain.
>
> The second editorial point of error is suddenly mixed metaphors:
> (burrowing is what rabbits do, rooting characteristic of pigs.)
Those were my impressions too.
Thank you all.
Marius Hancu
Evan Kirshenbaum
> "Marius Hancu" <marius...@gmail.com> wrote in message
> news:621f0fd1-65d3-4f0e...@z10g2000yqb.googlegroups.com...
>
>> "Like a hog rutting in mud" . . .
>>
>> Gavin emerged with shaving cream on half his face, and took the
>> receiver from his wife, who burrowed deep into the bed. Like a hog
>> rutting in mud, he thought.
>>
>> "Hello," he snapped.
>>
>> John Grisham, The Pelican Brief
>
> We cannot specify whether this is a colloquialism or an editorial
> mistake. In standard English we say pigs (English) or hogs
> (American) root (verb), viz. excavate the ground with their noses
> (seeking food.) This is normal behavior (exploited by farmers to
> remove grass and prepare ground for tillage.) US English also has a
> proverb: "Root, hog, or die!" meaning "Go to work" (root in this
> phrase being the verb, imperative mood.)
>
> Google would probably show us how many Americans interchange the
> verbs Root and Rut as if synonymous. To my eye this is an error but
> descriptivists may not complain.
I'd be surprised if it did to any great extent. "Rutting", for
animals (especially deer), means "being in a state of sexual
excitement". I don't think I've ever heard these two confused.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |"The Dynamics of Interbeing and
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |Monological Imperatives in 'Dick
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |and Jane' : A Study in Psychic
|Transrelational Modes."
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com | Calvin
(650)857-7572
Wood Avens
<kirsh...@hpl.hp.com> wrote:
>"Don Phillipson" <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> writes:
>> Google would probably show us how many Americans interchange the
>> verbs Root and Rut as if synonymous. To my eye this is an error but
>> descriptivists may not complain.
>
>I'd be surprised if it did to any great extent. "Rutting", for
>animals (especially deer), means "being in a state of sexual
>excitement". I don't think I've ever heard these two confused.
Not as in "Eats, roots, shoots, and leaves"?
--
Katy Jennison
spamtrap: remove the first two letters after the @
Evan Kirshenbaum
> On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:13:36 -0700, Evan Kirshenbaum
> <kirsh...@hpl.hp.com> wrote:
>
>>"Don Phillipson" <e9...@SPAMBLOCK.ncf.ca> writes:
>
>>> Google would probably show us how many Americans interchange the
>>> verbs Root and Rut as if synonymous. To my eye this is an error but
>>> descriptivists may not complain.
>>
>>I'd be surprised if it did to any great extent. "Rutting", for
>>animals (especially deer), means "being in a state of sexual
>>excitement". I don't think I've ever heard these two confused.
>
> Not as in "Eats, roots, shoots, and leaves"?
I've only heard Australians use that one (I learned it as "Eats,
shoots, and leaves"), but I've never heard them apply it to animals
(although the OED does have "to root like a rattlesnake"). Also,
that's actually having sex, while "rutting" is more "in the mood for
sex".
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |Those who study history are doomed
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |to watch others repeat it.
Palo Alto, CA 94304
kirsh...@hpl.hp.com
(650)857-7572