Meaning of "as if certain spots were permanently used and recognised"?
Hello everyone. I am reading a novel, and I came across this expression. Could you please let me know its meaning?
There were no large heaps of rubbish, as if certain spots were permanently used and recognised: it was all in little patches, some old, and deeply sunk in the grass, some fairly new, with its bits of newspaper still white. Enamel slop pails and buckets took first place amongst the casual things—and all were inexplicably battered and broken. Cats came next, although being alive were not, properly speaking, rubbish. But they mingled with it so naturally that they claimed some kind of kinship, they prowled amongst it or sat amongst it: and sometimes looked at each other across it. Nearly as many cats as slop pails.
- R. C. Sherriff, The Fortnight in September, Chapter 7
This is a novel published in 1931, which describes a fortnight in September in which an English family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, Mary, Dick, and Ernie go on a holiday. Ernie, the youngest, is looking out of the window of a running train to heaps of rubbish, which is the source of wonder to him.
In this part, I am not sure what the underlined expression means.
My humble guess is that it might mean, "certain places on the ground were utilized and perceived as the places for dumping rubbish for an interminable period of time," but I am not so sure, so I wanted to ask you.
Thank you very much for your help.
Top answer
I had to read that like five times. On first reading, the underlined phrase applies to "were no", and he seems to be saying that there were no large heaps because the spots were permanently used, which is nonsense. He meant the underlined phrase to apply to "heaps".
- I had to read that like five times.
- On first reading, the underlined phrase applies to "were no", and he seems to be saying that there were no large heaps because the spots were permanently used, which is nonsense.
- He meant the underlined phrase to apply to "heaps".
- If there had been large heaps, that would mean that certain spots were where people always dumped their rubbish.
- " It seems he thought that the colon was enough to drive the phrase back where it belongs, but it wasn't.
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I had to read that like five times. On first reading, the underlined phrase applies to "were no", and he seems to be saying that there were no large heaps because the spots were permanently used, which is nonsense. He meant the underlined phrase to apply to "heaps". If there had been large heaps, that would mean that certain spots were where people always dumped their rubbish. Read "There were
0Curious ReaderThere were no large heaps of rubbish, as if certain spots were permanently used and recognised
I too found this passage difficult. I eventually came to the same conclusion that anonymous did. The fragment quoted above means that large heaps of rubbish were to be expected at spots where rubbish was regularly dumped, but that's not what was se
0
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