0
Mr. Tom Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
General Arnold's boots
Hi
This is the start of Mickey Spillane’s novel Return of the Hood, written in first person narrative. The writer is in a restaurant and the cops are there to arrest him. He is a murder suspect. They let him finish his meal decently and do not hurry. Stippetto brothers are also there to 'play' with him. He writes:
With them I could play. I had a .45 calibre instrument that could sound off loud and clear, but with the cops you don’t play like that. On somebody else the fuzz would have stepped up and made the pinch without waiting. For this one time I had to be an exception because of what happened a year ago, and for that they were being decent. Something like General Arnold’s boots if you got enough smarts to know what I mean.
I don't understand this reference. There is absolutely no mention of the General's boots before of after -- no more context at all. Can you please enlighten me?
Thanks,
Tom
This is the start of Mickey Spillane’s novel Return of the Hood, written in first person narrative. The writer is in a restaurant and the cops are there to arrest him. He is a murder suspect. They let him finish his meal decently and do not hurry. Stippetto brothers are also there to 'play' with him. He writes:
With them I could play. I had a .45 calibre instrument that could sound off loud and clear, but with the cops you don’t play like that. On somebody else the fuzz would have stepped up and made the pinch without waiting. For this one time I had to be an exception because of what happened a year ago, and for that they were being decent. Something like General Arnold’s boots if you got enough smarts to know what I mean.
I don't understand this reference. There is absolutely no mention of the General's boots before of after -- no more context at all. Can you please enlighten me?
Thanks,
Tom
Top answer
'General Arnold' I presume is Benedict Arnold, the infamous American traitor during the Revolutionary War, but I don't know what his boots have to do with the idiom. Wikipedia (bless its soul) does give me a hint, however: The Boot Monument is an American Revolutionary War memorial located in Saratoga National Historical Park, New York. It commemorates Major General Benedict Arnold's service at the Battles of Saratoga in the Continental Army, but contrives not to name him.
- 'General Arnold' I presume is Benedict Arnold, the infamous American traitor during the Revolutionary War, but I don't know what his boots have to do with the idiom.
- Wikipedia (bless its soul) does give me a hint, however: The Boot Monument is an American Revolutionary War memorial located in Saratoga National Historical Park, New York.
- It commemorates Major General Benedict Arnold's service at the Battles of Saratoga in the Continental Army, but contrives not to name him.
- I leave it to you to work out the connection to the story.
- com/2014/01/01/Americas-Monument-to-Its-Most-Infamous-Traitor-Benedict-Arnold
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
5 Answers
0
'General Arnold' I presume is Benedict Arnold, the infamous American traitor during the Revolutionary War, but I don't know what his boots have to do with the idiom.
Wikipedia (bless its soul) does give me a hint, however:
The Boot Monument is an American Revolutionary War memorial located in Saratoga National Historical Park, New York. It commemorates Major General Ben
Wikipedia (bless its soul) does give me a hint, however:
The Boot Monument is an American Revolutionary War memorial located in Saratoga National Historical Park, New York. It commemorates Major General Ben
00
Thanks, MM.
Is "get enough smarts" a coinage by the writer? I couldn't find this idiom anywhere. None of my dictionaries has the word smarts.
Tom
Is "get enough smarts" a coinage by the writer? I couldn't find this idiom anywhere. None of my dictionaries has the word smarts.
Tom
00
Mr. TomIs "get enough smarts" a coinage by the writer?Probably not. "smarts" or "brains" has been used to mean "intelligence" for quite a long time, though I suspect "smarts" is not as old an expression as "brains".
Steven doesn't have enough [smarts / brains / intelligence] to know when to stop talking.
It's listed with the definiti
00
Mr. TomIs "get enough smarts" a coinage by the writer? I couldn't find this idiom anywhere. None of my dictionaries has the word smarts.Just by the way, this is an AmE usage. It is not used in BrE. Here we say that someone is "smart", but not that someone has "smarts".
00
GPYthis is an AmE usage.I'm not surprised. It does have the ring of the speech of adolescents on (American) Television Dance Party in the 1950s.
0
Related Questions