The Reading Room

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Eddie Kal

03:50

-1

Q: Meaning of "it's like moist black velvet." (From The Most Dangerous Game)

"Can't see it," remarked Rainsford, trying to peer through the dank tropical night that was palpable as it pressed its thick warm blackness in upon the yacht. "You've good eyes," said Whitney, with a laugh," and I've seen you pick off a moose moving in the brown fall bush at four hundred yards, ...

meaning-in-context

Maybe this should come to Lit.

3 hours later…

Knight wants Loong back

07:17

Poets of the Fall - Kamikaze Love

►

Can somebody tell me what’s the meaning of line : “leaves you reeling feels like stealing” means?

what “reeling” could mean? As far as I know it’s the camera (old ones) that used to roll over the film, called reel.

And how it could feel like stealing, I know stealing makes us feel guilt and fearsome all the time but I need a little more explanation on this.

4 hours later…

b_jonas

11:42

@KnightwantsLoongback No, "reeling" has another meaning too, one that can apply to a person. Check a dictionary.

Gareth Rees

12:16

@KnightwantsLoongback You could post this as a question on Literature.se (or possibly ELL.se, but I am not an expert on what is on topic there)

2 hours later…

Knight wants Loong back

13:58

@b_jonas walk as if unable to control one’s movements

All right, it is consistent with the line “hell the way you’ve walked in”, means the singer’s lover has gone into a wrong path but the singer cannot help her (maybe she would have rejected him and asked him to stay away) and says “leaves you reeling” I.e. leaving her in an uncontrolled movement in that wrong feels like stealing, but how does it feel like stealing? (I ain’t got no personal experience in that)

@GarethRees Yes, I would have but I thought it could be answered just by a single comment (and it seems that’s true by b jonas’ comment) so I refrained from doing that.

@EddieKal How did you like the song? Maybe it’s not of your taste but then also... how was it?

b_jonas

14:17

@KnightwantsLoongback No, I don't think I answered my full comment, I just said that what you said isn't the only meaning of "reel".

5 hours later…

bobble

18:48

I have another question to ask. It can be summed up as "Why do some books use made-up curse words? Three questions: 1) Has this been asked before? (from a quick search of here, the answer is "no", but I'm still unsure) 2) What tags would I use? and 3) Can anyone provide some further examples? I know I've seen it in more places, but as of right now I can only find stuff rom my Pern novels and Harry Potter.

Tsundoku

I'm not sure that question can be answered for literature in general; different authors may do that for different reasons.

bobble

could I ask for a specific book series then?

b_jonas

19:04

@bobble Iirc there's a tvtropes page for that, so it has been asked

@bobble check TVTROPES WARNING tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PardonMyKlingon and tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LanguageTropes

But if a particular book series makes an interesting use of it, then sure, feel free to ask

bobble

I think I may have been a little unclear wit the initial question: I'm more curious about books that make regular words into curse words. The specific example I have is how "shards", a perfectly innocuous English word, is a curse word in Pern.

I guess I'll frame the question around that

1 hour later…

Gareth Rees

20:23

@bobble It's always best to ask about specific works — because there might be different reasons in each case.

Bookworm

21:00

Q: what is the best argument for Psychoanalytic notion of self-conflict

I hope to get an answer, if I want to write about this topic "Psychoanalytic notion of self-conflict in Harper Lee's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and Thomas Hardy's 'The Mayor of Casterbridge'what is the best argument for it? according to the Psychoanalytic Criticism theory

to-kill-a-mockingbird

3 hours later…

b_jonas

23:33

@bobble oh, tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/… is a more specific index then tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LanguageTropes

bobble

Thanks for the links!

Bookworm

23:53

Q: Why is the author of the novel "West of the Water Tower" not named?

I have a copy of the 1923 novel "West of the Water Tower" by Homer Croy. Nowhere in the book is the author named, nor is there an "about the author" section. The last couple of pages advertise books by other authors. Why did Mr. Croy and/or the publisher (Harper's) want to conceal the authorship ...