Subject
Re: [Fwd: American idioms]
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I agree. I hadn't thought about Railway Express in a good while and was
reminded that Hemingway once shipped a treasured trunk of fishing gear from
Key West to Montana, and it got lost along the way. I think this may have
pained him more than Hadley's loss of that portfolio of manuscripts (including
carbons). This is an interesting article of Railway Express, which I am
sure VN was familiar with, especially during the temporary move to California.
The signs used to be everywhere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Express_Agency
As far as "midst" is concerned, it is a little recherche but squarely
idiomatic for an American. I once got a paper from a hopeless freshman that
said, "I felt I was in the mitts of dangur." It took me awhile to figure that
one out, along with the student who once wrote that Petrarch put Laura on a
"pedal stool."
RSG
In a message dated 7/30/2012 10:25:04 AM Central Daylight Time,
nabokv-l@UTK.EDU writes:
>
>
> Neither midst nor railway is all that unusual for American speakers. “I’
> m in the midst of something” is a perfectly normal expression. (BTW, the d
> in midst is often unpronounced, and, in student writing, is sometimes not
> spelled or typed, which leads to delightful double meanings: “I’m in the
> mist of problems.” Railroad might be preferred, but railway would not sound
> at all odd. One of America’s largest trucking companies is, or used to be,
> Railway Express (I don’t know its current status). Perhaps the preference
> for railroad is that railroad can be used as a verb, meaning “to hasten to
> a conclusion; or to devise false evidence against,” but railway can’t
> have this usage.
>
>
>
> Eric Hyman
>
> Professor of English
>
> Interim Chair
>
> Department of English
>
> Butler 123
>
> Fayetteville State University
>
> 1200 Murchison Road
>
> Fayetteville, NC 28301-4252
>
> (910) 672-1416
>
>
>
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reminded that Hemingway once shipped a treasured trunk of fishing gear from
Key West to Montana, and it got lost along the way. I think this may have
pained him more than Hadley's loss of that portfolio of manuscripts (including
carbons). This is an interesting article of Railway Express, which I am
sure VN was familiar with, especially during the temporary move to California.
The signs used to be everywhere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Express_Agency
As far as "midst" is concerned, it is a little recherche but squarely
idiomatic for an American. I once got a paper from a hopeless freshman that
said, "I felt I was in the mitts of dangur." It took me awhile to figure that
one out, along with the student who once wrote that Petrarch put Laura on a
"pedal stool."
RSG
In a message dated 7/30/2012 10:25:04 AM Central Daylight Time,
nabokv-l@UTK.EDU writes:
>
>
> Neither midst nor railway is all that unusual for American speakers. “I’
> m in the midst of something” is a perfectly normal expression. (BTW, the d
> in midst is often unpronounced, and, in student writing, is sometimes not
> spelled or typed, which leads to delightful double meanings: “I’m in the
> mist of problems.” Railroad might be preferred, but railway would not sound
> at all odd. One of America’s largest trucking companies is, or used to be,
> Railway Express (I don’t know its current status). Perhaps the preference
> for railroad is that railroad can be used as a verb, meaning “to hasten to
> a conclusion; or to devise false evidence against,” but railway can’t
> have this usage.
>
>
>
> Eric Hyman
>
> Professor of English
>
> Interim Chair
>
> Department of English
>
> Butler 123
>
> Fayetteville State University
>
> 1200 Murchison Road
>
> Fayetteville, NC 28301-4252
>
> (910) 672-1416
>
>
>
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/