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Vsuresh Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
meaning
Hi
Please tell me what the underlined expression means.
Extract from Model Millionaire by Oscar Wilde
To make matters worse, he was in love. The girl he loved was Laura Merton, the daughter of a retired Colonel who had lost his temper and his digestion in India, and had never found either of them again. Laura adored him, and he was ready to kiss her shoe-strings. They were the handsomest couple in London, and had not a penny-piece between them. The Colonel was very fond of Hughie, but would not hear of any engagement.
Please tell me what the underlined expression means.
Extract from Model Millionaire by Oscar Wilde
To make matters worse, he was in love. The girl he loved was Laura Merton, the daughter of a retired Colonel who had lost his temper and his digestion in India, and had never found either of them again. Laura adored him, and he was ready to kiss her shoe-strings. They were the handsomest couple in London, and had not a penny-piece between them. The Colonel was very fond of Hughie, but would not hear of any engagement.
Top answer
He lost his temper in India, and he also lost his digestion in India. "lose one's temper" is a set phrase meaning to become angry. "lost his digestion" means, I would guess, that he developed some kind of digestive disorder.
- He lost his temper in India, and he also lost his digestion in India.
- "lose one's temper" is a set phrase meaning to become angry.
- "lost his digestion" means, I would guess, that he developed some kind of digestive disorder.
- The two expressions are combined with humorous intent.
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5 Answers
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He lost his temper in India, and he also lost his digestion in India. "lose one's temper" is a set phrase meaning to become angry. "lost his digestion" means, I would guess, that he developed some kind of digestive disorder. The two expressions are combined with humorous intent.
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vsureshthe underlined expressionIt's literally 'lost his temper and lost his digestion' as explained above by GPY.
It's a fairly common technique in writing humorous stories to combine two expressions by "and" when they don't logically go together, e.g., She went off in a Cadillac and a bad mood. The apparent ineptness of the combination brin
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Lost his temper would mean his aggressive nature was lost. Usually colonel' s are someone who are supposed to bw strict and always ferocious. Now that he is retired, he has bid his temper good bye.
And his digestion in India means, usually Indian food is extremely spicy. It may have meant, eating food from there caused him some digestion problem or of that sort.
Hope this helped !
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