Meaning of "Man is fishing, so Dutch lady says Go fish."?
Hello everyone. I am reading a novel, and I came across this expression. Could you please let me know its meaning?
Here I am trying to determine that there is no below after rock bottom, no after-omega, that beyond the person I see in Clara there is no other person, and yet how like her to tell me that rock bottom does not exist, that there are as many Claras as there are buried tiers and legends on our planet. And how about me?
“Man thinking about first night, wondering what would have happened had he gotten off on wrong floor and gone to a different party.”
“Man would have met different Dutch lady.”
“Yes, but what does present Dutch lady think of that?”
“Man is fishing, so Dutch lady says Go fish.”
How I loved her mind. To every north, my south, to every secret, its sharer, to every glove the partner.
- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Fourth Night
This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist who meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Now the protagonist is at Clara's house.
In this part, I wonder what the underlined expression means.
My wild guess is that, she is saying that the protagonist is fishing her (is trying to read her thoughts), and that he should go fishing (literally, go and catch fish) rather than fishing here in her house, but I am not sure...
Thank you very much for your help.
Top answer
Curious Reader My wild guess is that, she is saying that the protagonist is fishing her (is trying to read her thoughts) Close. He is trying to draw her out, to provoke a telling response the way a fisherman provokes a fish to bite, the information he might get being the figurative fish. This is a common expression.
- Curious Reader My wild guess is that, she is saying that the protagonist is fishing her (is trying to read her thoughts) Close.
- He is trying to draw her out, to provoke a telling response the way a fisherman provokes a fish to bite, the information he might get being the figurative fish.
- This is a common expression.
- We can say someone is fishing when they do this.
- You can even call it a fishing expedition if it is elaborate.
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Curious ReaderMy wild guess is that, she is saying that the protagonist is fishing her (is trying to read her thoughts)
Close. He is trying to draw her out, to provoke a telling response the way a fisherman provokes a fish to bite, the information he might get being the figurative fish. This is a common expression. We can say someone is fishing when they do
0Curious Reader“Man would have met different Dutch lady.”
Implies he was looking out for a woman to spend the night with, but he didn't care who it was.
Curious Reader“Yes, but what does present Dutch lady think of that?”
Curious Reader“Man is fishing,
She knows he is trying catc
0
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