Search from various English teachers...
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What does it mean? A fast-phrase projector?
Well, I came across this expression in a science fiction novel called 'The Furies' written by Roger Zelazny. The whole context is as followed:
'One time the Wallaby was a proud Guardship, an ebony toadstool studded with the jewel-like warts of fast-phrase projectors. One time theWallabyskipped proud about the frontier worlds of Interstel, meting out the unique justice of the Uniform Galactic Code—in those places where there was no other law. One time the proud Wallaby, under the command of Captain Victor Corgo of the Guard, had ranged deep space and become a legend under legendary skies.
A terror to brigands and ugly aliens, a threat to Codebreakers, and a thorn in the sides of evildoers everywhere, Corgo and his shimmering fungus (which could burn an entire continent under water level within a single day) were the pride of the Guard, the best of the best, the cream that had been skimmed from all the rest.'
Question:
What is a fast-phrase projector?
Is 'fast-phrase' a typo? Could it be 'fast-phase', 'fast-pace', or whatever?
And is Corgo's spaceship shaped like a fungus or is it actually a fungus?
I'm really confused.
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What is an under-jet?
I saw it in 'A Martian Odyssey' written by Stanley Weinbaum
Context:
the wings haven't much lift in this air at less than a hundred miles per hour, and even then I had to use the under-jets.
Question:
What is an under-jet? Just like the jet engines under the wings we see from the jet aircraft?
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Add the month and take away the time of day?
Context:
“What are you doing?” said Agnes, tearing her gaze away from the corridor.
“Amazin', ”said Granny. "Some things is entered twice! And I reckon there's a page here where someone's added the month and taken away the time of day!”
Tips:
1. This is from the novel 'Maskerade' written by Terry Pratchett, one of the books from 'Discworld' series.
2. While reading the materials equivalent to account book, Agnes and Granny Weatherwax has discovered that someone is stealing money from the theatre, most likely it was done by the notorious Ghost.
Question:
What exactly did the Ghost falsify accounts here? What exactly does Granny mean by saying 'added the month and taken away the time of day'?
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You’ve got to have enough light to see the dark by. What does it mean?
Context:(From Terry Pratchett's Moving Pictures)
“It’s never too dark in the clicks,” said Ginger flatly. “Think about it.”
She nudged the handleman, who said, very quickly, “She’s right. ’S never dark in the clicks. Stands to reason. You’ve got to have enough light to see the dark by.”
Victor glanced up at the gloom, and then back at Ginger.
Tip:
Victor is afraid of climbing a staricase in the dark. Ginger wants to encourage him by suggesting that it is just another heroism scene in the movie he used to act. But what does the sentence 'You've got to have enough light to see the dark by' mean? More specifically, when ii applies to clicks(movie), what does it mean?
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You know where you stand, with a boot?
Context：（Again from Sir Terry Pratchett’s Moving Pictures）
“He’s in love,” said Gaspode. “It’s very tricky.”
“Yeah, I know how it ish,” said the cat sympathetically. “People throwing old boots and things at you.”
“Old boots?” said the mouse.
“That’sh what’s always happened to me when I’ve been in love,” said Cat wistfully.
“It’s different for humans,” said Gaspode uncertainly. “You don’t get so many boots and buckets of water thrown at you. It’s more, er, flowers and arguing and stuff.”
The animals looked glumly at one another.
“I’ve watched ’em,” said Squeak. “She thinks he’s a idiot.”
“That’s all part of it,” added Gaspode. “They call it romance.”
Cat shrugged. “Give me a boot every time. You know where you stand, with a boot.” Question：Give me a boot every time? You know where you stand, with a boot? What does it mean? The cat certainly wants to be funny, right? But what is the funny point?
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Is this a joke? What does it mean?
Context:(From Sir Terry Pratchett's Moving Pictures)
Eventually the first troll said, very slowly, because it had been working this out for a long time. “What do you get, right, what do you get if, you cross...a mountain with a elephant?”
Tips: The two trolls wanted to eat the elephants when the distantly-heard Big Eats turned out to be a thousand indigestible elephants, that is, on skis and sleds. After the skis and sleds went away, one of the trolls said something I quoted above while the other was probably stamped on.
Question: Cross a mountain with a elephant? Is this a joke? What does it mean? What is the answer to this question?
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What does the arthur's note mean?
Context:(From 'Raising Steam' by Terry Pratchett)
The thought of Vetinari was still proving hard to banish later that evening when Moist finally bunked down in the guard's van. As the motion of the train lulled him into a tired and relieved doze, an image of the Patrician swam into Moist's mind. He shuddered at the recollection of his recent encounter. Vetinari had been at his desk reading reports of what looked suspiciously to Moist like other people's clacks messages. He had frowned when he saw Moist and said, 'Well now, Mister Lipwig, is the train already cleared for Uberwald, by any chance?
Question:
Immediately after the 4th sentence, the author wrote a note: Although this accusation has never been levelled by anybody at his lordship, which is to say, none have been found.
What is the accusation exactly? What does 'been levelled by anybody at his lordship' mean? What does 'none' refer to?
Tips: Moist was on a mission given by Vetinari (also know as the Partrician and his lordship in the context) to send an important political figure to Uberwald.
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What does the arthur's note mean?
Context:(From 'Raising Steam' by Terry Pratchett)
The thought of Vetinari was still proving hard to banish later that evening when Moist finally bunked down in the guard's van. As the motion of the train lulled him into a tired and relieved doze, an image of the Patrician swam into Moist's mind. He shuddered at the recollection of his recent encounter. Vetinari had been at his desk reading reports of what looked suspiciously to Moist like other people's clacks messages. He had frowned when he saw Moist and said, 'Well now, Mister Lipwig, is the train already cleared for Uberwald, by any chance?
Question:
Immediately after the 4th sentence, the author wrote a note: Although this accusation has never been levelled by anybody at his lordship, which is to say, none have been found.
What is the accusation exactly? What does 'been levelled by anybody at his lordship' mean? What does 'none' refer to?
Tips: Moist was on a mission given by Vetinari (also know as the Partrician and his lordship in the context) to send an important political figure to Uberwald.
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What does this good mind mean? And balanced mind?
Context:(From 'Raising Steam' by Terry Pratchett)
Ardent had to be aware of the penalty for those who took up arms against the Low King. Despite everything, there must have been a good mind there, one which could have been useful to dwarfkind as a whole and might yet be useful, even if right now it couldn’t tell pyrites from gold. It was no secret that the most highly balanced minds sometimes, well, overbalanced.
Question:
1. What does good mind mean in the context? Is it Ardent who has this kind of good mind?
2. 'Couldn't tell pyrites from gold' here means you can't tell good deeds(for the welfare of all the dwarfs, even in a wronged way) from bad deeds(take up arms against the dwarf king), yes?
3. What is a 'balanced mind'? Does that have anything to do with emotional control or balance of powers?
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Why does Moist think this way?
Context:(From 'Raising Steam' by Terry Pratchett)
Nevertheless, once you were bereft of the clacks you thought of yourself as a second-class citizen. Spike was always telling him how enraged clients got about their clacks bills, which were, he considered, not bad in the circumstances; but a kind of ratchet formed in people’s minds: here is the new thing and here it is. And yesterday you never thought about it and after today you don’t know what you would do without it. That was what the technology was doing. It was your slave but, in a sense, it might be the other way round.
Question:
I know that 'clacks' is some sort of semaphone network, which is relatively new in Discworld. But why does Moist think people have a kind of ratchet in their minds? What does 'here is the new thing and here it is' actually mean? Does that mean people sometimes are unwilling to pay for the new techonology or what?
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