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  • Leaden spade

    From Alexander Koryagin@2:221/360 to All on Tue Oct 29 08:30:28 2019

    Hi, all!

    From "The Great Catsby", by F.Scott Fitzerald, again:

    -----Beginning of the citation-----
    About half way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily
    joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to
    shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of
    ashes-a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills
    and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys
    and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who
    move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a
    line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly
    creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with
    leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their
    obscure operations from your sight.
    ----- The end of the citation -----

    Although all the text is very vivid and difficult, I'd like ask why the workers use "leaden spades"? IMHO lead is not a metal for spades? ;)

    Bye, all!
    Alexander Koryagin

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://fidonews.mine.nu - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/360.0)
  • From Dallas Hinton@1:153/7715 to Alexander Koryagin on Mon Oct 28 23:35:02 2019
    Hi Alexander -- on Oct 29 2019 at 08:32, you wrote:

    From "The Great Catsby", by F.Scott Fitzerald, again:
    |Gatsby |Fitzgerald


    creak, and comes to rest, and immediately the ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight.
    ----- The end of the citation -----

    Although all the text is very vivid and difficult, I'd like ask why

    Typical of F. Scott Fitzgerald - I'm not a fan of his works.

    the workers use "leaden spades"? IMHO lead is not a metal for spades? ;)

    Leaden as in "heavy", I believe. Again, typical of FSF's cumbersome style.


    Cheers... Dallas

    --- timEd/NT 1.30+
    * Origin: The BandMaster, Vancouver, CANADA (1:153/7715)
  • From Mark Lewis@1:3634/12 to Alexander Koryagin on Tue Oct 29 09:34:14 2019
    Re: Leaden spade
    By: Alexander Koryagin to All on Tue Oct 29 2019 08:32:28

    Although all the text is very vivid and difficult, I'd like ask why
    the workers use "leaden spades"? IMHO lead is not a metal for
    spades? ;)


    adjective #1 below applies...


    leaden [ led-n ]
    adjective

    1. inertly heavy like lead; hard to lift or move: a leaden weight; leaden feet.

    2. dull, spiritless, or gloomy, as in mood or thought: leaden prose; a leaden atmosphere.

    3. of a dull gray color: leaden skies.

    4. oppressive; heavy: a leaden silence.

    5. sluggish; listless: They moved at a leaden pace.

    6. of poor quality or little value.

    7. made or consisting of lead.


    verb (used with object)

    1. to make leaden, sluggish, dull, etc.: Fatigue had leadened his brain and step.


    https://www.dictionary.com/browse/leaden



    )\/(ark
    --- SBBSecho 3.10-Linux
    * Origin: SouthEast Star Mail HUB - SESTAR (1:3634/12)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/360 to Dallas Hinton on Sun Nov 17 13:33:50 2019
    Dallas Hinton:

    Again, typical of FSF's cumbersome style.

    I too dislike "The Great Gatsby." If is interested in Jazz-
    age novels about rich people who do not have to work hard
    for a living and squander their lives in indolence and
    indulgence, I recomment Aldous Huxley's "Crome Yellow."
    That one I enjoyed.

    ---
    * Origin: nntps://fidonews.mine.nu - Lake Ylo - Finland (2:221/360.0)