Tower of Babel Forum

Artinum · Zapper Beiträge: 184

Zitat: Fawlty

... after pushing the task ahead of me (shelving the task?) ...

Shelving a task means putting it to one side, leaving it alone so you can get on with other things instead. I'm not sure if that's what you mean by pushing it ahead, which is a phrase I've never heard of...

English is horrific with this sort of thing. Take "put down", for instance. In one sense it means to place something down on the floor, or a desk, or some such. In a second sense, a put-down is an insult or cutting remark, often as a response to a chat-up line. And thirdly, if you take your cat or dog to the vet they can be put down (usually by lethal injection).

This is to say nothing of such wonderful English metaphors (or lies, as I think of them) such as "it's raining cats and dogs" or such witticisms as "it's better than a poke in the eye with a blunt stick".

Sometimes I feel that I live in a bizarre country.

Andrew.