[lit-ideas] Re: Thursday Thing (no hope for Sunday this week)
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 10:56:34 +0900
Nicely observed. I hadn't quite figured out how to frame this properly.
John
On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 10:36 AM, Robert Paul <rpaul@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> John McCreery wrote
>
> > Just to muddle the waters further, in my dialect "pretty good," "pretty
> > bad," "pretty deep," "pretty shallow" imply moderation in the quality in
> > question. E.g., "She's pretty good" can imply "Yes, she's got talent,
> > though she's not a real super star." "That part of the river is pretty
> > deep" says, "Yes, it may not be the deepest part what but the water,
> > yes, it's deep."
>
> It's hard to tell from the printed screen what the expression suggests.
> In my mind's ear I can hear its meaning 'She's (e.g.) a better tennis
> player than you might think, so don't take her lightly,' or 'Yeah, she's
> OK, but not in your league.' The meaning falls out of stress and
> intonation. In the first case, I hear 'She's pretty GOOD,' and in the
> second, 'She's p-r-e-t-t-y good,' followed by an implied but unspoken
> 'although,' 'but,' or 'however.'
>
> Robert Paul,
> hearing things
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--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
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