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User_gary Posted 16 years ago
Vocabulary

Cross between, following ensued, loopy, ensued

And then that dog-that mangy cur I didn't immediately want to kick to the shores of forever-it started barking at me. It's not really so little. Picture a cross between a fox and a ferocious hellhound. A red dog. No lights. I can't see a thing. I'm stupid drunk, and by this I mean: quiet, loopy, and somewhat messianic. And supposedly the following ensued. I didn't black it all out. Only the idiotic phrase that's scarred me for life-
The dog's barking. I kneel and try to calm it with my soothing, dog-assuring hand. It snaps. I narrowly evade demanulation. I'm kneeling and Wendy is yanking the dog back on a tight leash. I'm thinking that all dogs love me since my own dog does, and supposedly I said just let the dog attack me.
She let go. In the next instant, that ravenous snout that was nipping my heels, jabbed me with its rabid canines, knocking me into a two-revolutions backwards roll right through the open flap of the tent in which Crowley's dreaming of perfect networking connections. Wendy's yelling at her dog for being a dog. There's blood. Everyone fusses over me. I'm nonchalant, as if this happens all the time. Everyone disappears into their tents. I roll the driver's side seat back in my electric blue Subaru and try sleeping. Ten minutes later, I negotiate Route One and get home without incident-except that, when I open the door, my dog starts barking. My mom wakes up and slowly comes downstairs in her nightgown. My entire nose and cheeks are covered in fresh blood. She thinks I was in a fight. I try to tell her what happened, but I can't express it correctly. As I try to tell my mother about the attack, at almost five in the morning, I notice that her sleepiness barely pillows her concern. Through her puffy eyes I can see she's astonished that her little baby goo-goos-her only son-can be comfortable in the bewildered and very conspicuously scarred skin before her. I can see she's upset. I decide to never mention it again

Source : http://www.barcelonareview.com/12/e_lk.htm

Please explain to me the emboldened parts.

Though I can understand "loopy" as "silly" and "messianic" as "full of emotions".
  

Top answer

"a cross between X and Y" means something with the characteristics of both X and Y: something that is half X and half Y. If X and Y are animals, it literally means the offspring of a male animal of one type and a female animal of the other type. For example, a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey.

  • "a cross between X and Y" means something with the characteristics of both X and Y: something that is half X and half Y.
  • If X and Y are animals, it literally means the offspring of a male animal of one type and a female animal of the other type.
  • For example, a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey.
  • However, a "hellhound" is not a real animal so the description is meant figuratively.
  • "loopy" means "a bit crazy".
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1 Answers
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"a cross between X and Y" means something with the characteristics of both X and Y: something that is half X and half Y. If X and Y are animals, it literally means the offspring of a male animal of one type and a female animal of the other type. For example, a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey. However, a "hellhound" is not a real animal so the description is meant figuratively.

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