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A furnished flat at 8 $per week .It didnot exactly beggar description but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad....please explain it

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

anonymousA furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.

It's a rather roundabout way of saying that the flat looked shabby.

Its cleverness (if that's what it is) lies in the fact that 'beggar' has two definitions. It means (in this context) to defy. Thus, to beggar description is to defy description. Things that defy description are things that are difficult or impossible to describe. In other words, the text says that the flat was not exactly impossible to describe, but ....

'beggar' also means a person, typically homeless, who lives by asking for money or food. This is 'that word' in the text. The word 'beggar' was on the lookout, that is watching (fearfully), for the mendicancy squad. 'mendicancy' is the practice of begging, and a 'squad' is a part of a police force that deals with a specific type of crime, in this case mendicancy (begging).

After 'description', the passage devolves into a display of buffoonery stemming from the word 'beggar', which obviously cannot be on the lookout for anything.

In sum, it means that though the flat was not exactly impossible to describe, it came very close to being impossible to describe. By saying this, the author is telling the reader that the flat was not very nice at all.

CJ

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