Still reading...
Nov. 19th, 2009 09:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deird_ljDo you ever find, when reading something, that there are phrases which make perfect sense, really, but still sound completely strange in context?
For instance:
"The man's hand was arrested before it had grasped the telephone receiver. He drew it back..."
That sounds relatively normal.
But when it's:
"The policeman's hand was arrested..."
Suddenly it sounds very odd.
This is from a Georgette Heyer murder mystery I've been re-reading.
A murder mystery in which, as it happens, two people are killed by having their heads beaten in with a blunt object.
Which also makes a later metaphor sound strangely un-metaphorical. Look:
"He went into a small private office, and once more spread his notes on the case before him, and cudgelled his brain over them."
Of course, it's really just a metaphorical way of describing how frustrating he was finding the case - but, given the brain-cudgelling murders that keep happening, it's very noticeable...
For instance:
"The man's hand was arrested before it had grasped the telephone receiver. He drew it back..."
That sounds relatively normal.
But when it's:
"The policeman's hand was arrested..."
Suddenly it sounds very odd.
This is from a Georgette Heyer murder mystery I've been re-reading.
A murder mystery in which, as it happens, two people are killed by having their heads beaten in with a blunt object.
Which also makes a later metaphor sound strangely un-metaphorical. Look:
"He went into a small private office, and once more spread his notes on the case before him, and cudgelled his brain over them."
Of course, it's really just a metaphorical way of describing how frustrating he was finding the case - but, given the brain-cudgelling murders that keep happening, it's very noticeable...
