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Guest Posted 21 years ago
Vocabulary

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0 Hello, 02br
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00Please look at following sentences. 02br
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001. Anybody who sits down to write will use the clay of their own life. 02br
002.To answer that would take the *** out of the whole thing. 02br
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00What do they mean? 02br
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00Thanks. 0-
  

Top answer

0 A little more context would help, but here goes: 02br 02br 001. Anybody who writes uses the experiences from their own life as a basis for their writing, the way a sculptor uses clay to mold things. 02br 002.

— CalifJim

  • 0 A little more context would help, but here goes: 02br 02br 001.
  • Anybody who writes uses the experiences from their own life as a basis for their writing, the way a sculptor uses clay to mold things.
  • 02br 002.
  • If you answered it that way it would remove all the [power of expression / forcefulness / 'spice' / interest] from it.
  • 02br 02br 00CJ 0-
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27 Answers
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0 A little more context would help, but here goes: 02br
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001. Anybody who writes uses the experiences from their own life as a basis for their writing, the way a sculptor uses clay to mold things. 02br
002. If you answered it that way it would remove all the [power of expression / forcefulness / 'spice' / interest] from it. 02br
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0 Hi. 02br
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00In BrE 2) is an idiom that means 'to make fun of'. 0-
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0@ nona: 02br
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00what exactly means "to make fun of"?: "to take the *** out of s.th."?0-
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0 To "make fun of " means to make a joke about someone or something in an unkind way. 02br
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00To "take the *** out of someone" meansto make a joke about someone or to make someone look silly. This is only used very informally. 02br
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00You will find a number of idiomd using the word "***" (which is slang for urine), all of which are very informal. 
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0 Hello Abbie, 02br
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00Do we really need to know the background story or the reason behind any idioms meaning? Will it help? 02br
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00Meanwhile, 'taking the URINE out of someone' doesn't even make sense. How do the idioms get their strange meanings? 02br
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00Thanks. 0-
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0 That is the whole point of an idion, Praveen! 02br
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00this is the definition from Cambridge advanced Learners' dictionary: 02br
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00"a group of words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word understood on its own" 02br
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00And this is from Webster. 02br
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0 Thanks Abbie. 02br
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00What about the other one? 02br
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00Do we really need to know the background story or the reason behind any idioms meaning? Will it help?12blockquote
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0 No, it's not necessary to know the background or origin of an idiom, but it can be interesting. you just need to be able to recognise an idiom 0-
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0 Thanks again. 0-
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0 I agree that it's not necessary to know the background story, but it often helps me. In the absence of a story, don't be shy about making up your own if it makes the idiom memorable for you! It's called folk etymology! 02br
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