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BAYRAM ERDEM Posted 12 years ago
Vocabulary
A conversation
Hello!
Here is a dialogue I have come across on the Internet. I don't seem to understand the last sentence of Tina. Could you please tell me what the intended meaning may be? What might she want to say to Bill given that she put a question mark at the end of her sentence. OK, here is it:
Tina: I heard someone walking upstairs. Everyone is sleeping.
Help me!
Bill: What! I should be getting a baseball bat this minute!
Tina: RIGHT?
Here is a dialogue I have come across on the Internet. I don't seem to understand the last sentence of Tina. Could you please tell me what the intended meaning may be? What might she want to say to Bill given that she put a question mark at the end of her sentence. OK, here is it:
Tina: I heard someone walking upstairs. Everyone is sleeping.
Help me!
Bill: What! I should be getting a baseball bat this minute!
Tina: RIGHT?
Top answer
The ? probably should have been !
- The ?
- probably should have been !
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11 Answers
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Tina is suggesting that there might be an intruder upstairs.
Bill is suggesting that he is not going to rush off for a baseball bat (with which to hit the intruder).
Bill's utterance appears to suggest he is of working class Jewish origin.
Bill is suggesting that he is not going to rush off for a baseball bat (with which to hit the intruder).
Bill's utterance appears to suggest he is of working class Jewish origin.
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fivejedjonBill's utterance appears to suggest he is off working class Jewish origin.Whew! That went so far above my head it didn't touch a hair.
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CalifJim fivejedjonBill's utterance appears to suggest he is off working class Jewish origin.Whew! That went so far above my head it didn't touch a hair. CJI got it as soon as I read off as of.
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PhilipI got it as soon as I read off as of.I got the 'off'/'of' thing, but I didn't get the Jewish origin thing.
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My apologies for the typo, now corrected.
I didn't mean anything deep by what I wrote. It was just that the wording " I should be ...ing?" in the sense of "You expect me to ...? You think I'm an idiot?" reminded me strongly of Jewish comedians and actors I have heard coming out with similar expressions. I say 'Jewish', because people coming out with this type of language are often emphas
I didn't mean anything deep by what I wrote. It was just that the wording " I should be ...ing?" in the sense of "You expect me to ...? You think I'm an idiot?" reminded me strongly of Jewish comedians and actors I have heard coming out with similar expressions. I say 'Jewish', because people coming out with this type of language are often emphas
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There are some examples of Jewish English here, though unfortunately not of the particular construction we are talking about.
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fivejedjonI should be ...ing?The original has no question mark. If it had, I think I might have taken it as you did. As it turns out, without the question mark I took it differently than you did. I think I "get it" now, though.
CJ
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