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SweetFreedom Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Absolute – end of?

What does "end of" mean?

Background info:

“A woman has an absolute right to do what she wants with her own body and that includes any foetus that it might contain. I don’t care if the foetus is fully conscious and writing poetry in the womb, the woman still has the right to abort it because it is her body and her choice.” Do we discuss the hypothetical intra-uterine poet, or does emotion simply close down the discussion, in either direction? Do we think the woman’s right is absolute, absolute, absolute – end of? Or do we think abortion is wrong, wrong, wrong; abortion is murder, no further discussion.?
“We agree that cannibalism is wrong. But if we don’t need to kill someone in order to eat them, can we discuss why it would be wrong? Why don’t we eat human road-kills? Yes, it would be horrible for the friends and relatives of the dead person, but suppose we hypothetically know that this person has no friends or relatives of any kind, why wouldn’t we eat him? Or is there a slippery slope that we should consider?” Do we proceed to discuss such questions rationally and logically with the professor of moral philosophy? Or do we throw an emotional fit and run screaming from the room?
  

Top answer

"end of" means "that's the end of the discussion about the matter -- the final word". Depending on what was in the author's mind, it may specifically be short for "end of story", which is a set expression with that kind of meaning.

  • "end of" means "that's the end of the discussion about the matter -- the final word".
  • Depending on what was in the author's mind, it may specifically be short for "end of story", which is a set expression with that kind of meaning.
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4 Answers
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"end of" means "that's the end of the discussion about the matter -- the final word". Depending on what was in the author's mind, it may specifically be short for "end of story", which is a set expression with that kind of meaning.
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Using just 'end of; like this is not a common practice,
It's not a standard expression.
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CliveUsing just 'end of; like this is not a common practice,It's not a standard expression.
Again, this may be a regional thing. In the UK, "end of" is a recognised (informal) expression of sorts.
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It appears to be becoming quite common in BrE.

Emotion: sad

(GPY beat me to it.)

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