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Recluse Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

How to interpret these sentences?

The trouble with Jim was he looked at the world and could not look away. And when you never look away all your life, by the time you are thirteen you have done twenty years taking in the laundry of the world.



What does the sentence colored in red mean?

Any help is appreciated.
  

Top answer

Hi, The trouble with Jim was he looked at the world and could not look away. And when you never look away all your life, by the time you are thirteen you have done twenty years taking in the laundry of the world. What does the sentence colored in red mean?

— Clive

  • Hi, The trouble with Jim was he looked at the world and could not look away.
  • And when you never look away all your life, by the time you are thirteen you have done twenty years taking in the laundry of the world.
  • What does the sentence colored in red mean?
  • You have spent an excessively long time observing / learning about / worrying about the problems of the world.
  • The usual expression of this type for problems is 'dirty laundry', but here the word 'dirty' seems to be omitted.
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4 Answers
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Hi,

The trouble with Jim was he looked at the world and could not look away. And when you never look away all your life, by the time you are thirteen you have done twenty years taking in the laundry of the world.

What does the sentence colored in red mean?

You have spent an excessively long time observing / learning about /
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Is that like the idiom " air your dirty launry in public" ?
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Hi,

To me, the reference to laundry seems related to this saying, although it is not 100% clear.

Clive
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