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Newguest Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary
Run to seed
Hi
Two ladies lived together. One of them used to clean up after the other one. But the first one probably didn't like it.
Finally the one who was slovenly (Janet) said to the other one (Miss Mayfield):
Janet, not easily provoked, had once thrown at her
the epithet ‘old-maidish’. Miss Mayfield had replied
equably, ‘That may be so; an instinct run to seed. I suppose
I should be cleaning, up the bathroom after three or four
boys who had been playing football. Then you’d call it
motherly.’
I checked the meaning of "run to seed" and found out that it can have either a positive or a negative meaning. What is its meaning here?
And by the way, how do you understand that short passage? I take it to mean that Janet called her behavior old-maidish (because she liked cleaning) and she said that maybe it's true ... and that she should rather clean up after boys who played football (and not after her), but then should would call it "motherly" and not "old-maidish". I'm not sure if that makes sense?
What do you think?
Two ladies lived together. One of them used to clean up after the other one. But the first one probably didn't like it.
Finally the one who was slovenly (Janet) said to the other one (Miss Mayfield):
Janet, not easily provoked, had once thrown at her
the epithet ‘old-maidish’. Miss Mayfield had replied
equably, ‘That may be so; an instinct run to seed. I suppose
I should be cleaning, up the bathroom after three or four
boys who had been playing football. Then you’d call it
motherly.’
I checked the meaning of "run to seed" and found out that it can have either a positive or a negative meaning. What is its meaning here?
And by the way, how do you understand that short passage? I take it to mean that Janet called her behavior old-maidish (because she liked cleaning) and she said that maybe it's true ... and that she should rather clean up after boys who played football (and not after her), but then should would call it "motherly" and not "old-maidish". I'm not sure if that makes sense?
What do you think?
Top answer
Newguest ‘That may be so; an instinct run to seed. I suppose I should be cleaning up the bathroom after three or four boys who had been playing football. Then you’d call it motherly.
- Newguest ‘That may be so; an instinct run to seed.
- I suppose I should be cleaning up the bathroom after three or four boys who had been playing football.
- Then you’d call it motherly.
- " I take the "run to seed" idiom in the pejorative sense here, meaning that her [motherly] instinct has degraded to a useless, shrivelled thing.
- The author's "subject" is the instinct to clean up after someone.
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3 Answers
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Newguest‘That may be so; an instinct run to seed. I suppose I should be cleaning up the bathroom after three or four boys who had been playing football. Then you’d call it motherly.Janet must have couched the epithet "old-maidish" in language that connected it clearly to the "cleaning up."
I take the "run to seed" idiom in the pejorative sense here,
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Hi Avangi
So by saying "old-maidish" Janet refers to her cleaning up, right?
And Miss Mayfield says that it's probable, that she is old-maidish and adds that her instinct has degenerated because instead of cleaning up the bathroom after her own kids (whom she doesn't have) she cleans it up after her friend and it shouldn't be so.
However it's still not clear to me why sh
So by saying "old-maidish" Janet refers to her cleaning up, right?
And Miss Mayfield says that it's probable, that she is old-maidish and adds that her instinct has degenerated because instead of cleaning up the bathroom after her own kids (whom she doesn't have) she cleans it up after her friend and it shouldn't be so.
However it's still not clear to me why sh
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It's sort of an implied conditional.
If I were cleaning up after my kids, as you probably think I should be, then you'd call it motherly.
(good - motherly, rather than bad - old-maidish) You'd praise me rather than condemn me.
If I were cleaning up after my kids, as you probably think I should be, then you'd call it motherly.
(good - motherly, rather than bad - old-maidish) You'd praise me rather than condemn me.
NewguestSo by saying "old-maidish" Janet refers to her cleaning up, right?
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