Would you please paraphrase it?

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HiHere is a sentence which I did not get the last part. Here it is, 'When they arrive in the fertile valleys of the West, the migrants are the most ragged, half-starved, forgotten element in our population, needy, the butt of the jibes of those who look down on "fruit tramps"...'.And one more question is that the element is singular. Shouldn't it be plural as it refers to migrants?Regards,Nesa

KrisBlueNZ · Accepted Answer

These are interesting questions.

"Those who look down on "fruit tramps"" are people who don't respect these migrants who travel around looking for seasonal work picking fruit. They call these migrants "fruit tramps", and like to insult them. They make JIBES about these people. A JIBE is an insult that's worded as a joke or taunt. So these people use the phrase "fruit tramps" as an insult, a way of demeaning these migrants, a way to show their disdain for them.

When someone makes a joke at your expense, they are making you the **** of their joke. They might say "Ah, you're nothing but a useless fruit tramp", for example. This isn't a joke, really, it's just an insult or a JIBE, but the "fruit tramps" are still the ****, or TARGET, of the jibe.

So you could replace the last part of the sentence with something like ", the TARGET of INSULTS spoken by people who DISRESPECT "fruit tramps"".

Singular ELEMENT is correct, because the migrants are taken as an uncountable, combined segment (i.e. a part, or an ELEMENT) of the population. You could also say "seafood IS a popular crop" (not "seafood ARE") in the same way.

Nesa · Answer

Thank you for the long, attentive reply. And if you don't mind I wanna ask some other questions.The previous text continues as "These people are not hand-picked failures. They are the human materials cruelly dislocated by the processes of human erosion. They have been scattered like the shavings from a clean-cut plane, or like the dust of their farms, literally blown out."

Do you have any idea that what other words can we replace instead of the highlighted ones?

Regards,

Nesa

Nesa · Answer

I'm sorry but one more thing. Is there any synonym or word combination for "fruit tramps"?

Thank you

Mister Micawber · Answer

Do you have any idea that what other words can we replace instead of the highlighted ones?-- Human materials = human resources, workers considered only as a resource. Shavings from a clean-cut plane (metaphor) = leftovers or by-products of the economy. 'Blown out' = dispersed randomly.

Is there any synonym or word combination for "fruit tramps"?-- As before, 'migrant workers' is the standard phrase. 'Fruit tramps' is local slang.

Nesa · Answer

Thank you Mister Micawber.

KrisBlueNZ · Answer

This sentence emphasises the fact that these people are human beings, just like the rest of us. It can be easy to dismiss people whose culture and/or language we don't share, and whom we feel little AFFINITY with, as having less WORTH than we do; this is the basis for racism. The sentence is trying to emphasize the humanity that we ALL share with these people.

I don't have any suggestions for replacements for those phrases, but I will point out that "shavings from a clean-cut plane" refers to a tool used in woodwork, called a PLANE, which is used to remove the surface of a piece of wood. Its cutting action produces SHAVINGS, curled-up thin pieces of wood, which fall to the floor and are ignored.

And re your question on synonyms for "fruit tramps", "seasonal fruit pickers" or "seasonal orchard workers" might work, but the point of the article was to use that specific phrase, to show how disrespected these people are.

Nesa · Answer

Hi

After your discription on PLANE I could imagine the exact shape of it that is used in carpentry and also SHAVINGS remained after using it. That was really helpful. By the way I don't want to replcae anything. I was just searching for better understanding. Of course your reply really helped me.

Regards, Nesa

Would you please paraphrase it?

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