English Questions

[allf100]

Hello DaveAgain and Kraut,

Thank you very much for your help! I got it. Vielen Dank!

[Le Baron]

The word 'medication' includes not only medicine but also other non-drug treatment, such as physical exercises, nutrition, etc. Is this correct?

I can see your confusion with this, it's not very clear-cut. Those physical things are more commonly called (physical) 'treatment' or 'therapy'. Though you can also receive treatment which includes some kind of drug.

We can try to make some of the words clearer:

Remedy or 'curative' (noun and verb)
The course of action and/or drug to be given (administered) after making the diagnosis.

Treatment (noun)
That course of action carried out and applied. Can also be called 'physical therapy'.

Medication (noun)
Treatment with medicine/drugs. I.e. not surgery or direct physical manipulation. The base verb is medicate. A distinction is commonly made between medical treatment and surgery. Though both may be applied.

Medicine (noun, but two meanings)
As Dave says the same noun refers to both drugs (medicines) and the field of medical practise. From Latin medicina and medicus which is a doctor. You can see this in modern French where a doctor is called a médecin.

[allf100]

Hello Le Baron,

It's very thoughtful of you to help me with these relevant words. I really much appreciate.

Have a nice day!

PS - Sorry, I didn't response in time, because I didn't think that someone else would answer that post any more.

[allf100]

Hello,

Re: In me the tiger sniffs the rose

I wonder if most native speakers of English hear about the verse 'In me the tiger sniffs the rose' by the British poet Siegfried Sassoon.

My favorite flower is sunflower. Do it makes sense if I say 'In me the tiger sniffs the sunflower' to native speakers, especially to university-educated British people, without indicating the source or the verse and the author?

Thank you!

[DaveAgain]

Hello,

Re: In me the tiger sniffs the rose

I wonder if most native speakers of English hear about have heard of the verse 'In me the tiger sniffs the rose' by the British poet Siegfried Sassoon.

My favorite flower is sunflower. Do it makes Does it make sense if I say 'In me the tiger sniffs the sunflower' to native speakers, especially to university-educated British people, without indicating the source or the verse and the author?

Thank you!

No, I don't think many people would recognise the reference.

[allf100]

...No, I don't think many people would recognise the reference.

Hello DaveAgain,

Thank you very much for your answer and corrections.

Have a great one!

[MaggieMae]

Some notes on Tom Sawyer that went unmentioned:

I ain't doing my duty by that boy, and that's the Lord's truth, goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile the child, as the Good Book says. I'm a laying up sin and suffering for us both, I know. He's full of the Old Scratch, but laws–a–me! he's my own dead sister's boy, poor thing, and I ain't got the heart to lash him, somehow.

"Laws-a-me" is a dialect form of "Lord have mercy!" This is typically used, as mentioned before, in exasperation. "Lord, I hope you have some mercy up in there for this poor soul, 'cause mine's sure done run out!" "Lord have mercy" is still very much in use today, and I wouldn't be surprised if "Laws-a-me" is still used around Louisiana, though I have very little Louisiana experience, personally.

Well–a–well, man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon it's so.

Q5: Does the following sentence means 'human lives are short, but we have to experience all the difficulties'?

I don't read it as that at all. I read it as men and boys die young and are troublesome. Then too, I could be wrong, but "full of trouble" is definitely troublesome. I'm willing to bet this speaker is a woman, and has just discovered that, probably Tom, got himself in trouble, yet again, and she's basically saying, "boys will be boys".

"Tom, it was middling warm in school, warn't it?"
"Yes'm."
"Powerful warm, warn't it?"
"Yes'm."

Q6: Yes'm' = Yes, madam?

They would've said ma'am instead of madam. Madam is way too hoity toity for this dialect. That being said, "Yes'm" is the contraction for "Yes, ma'am", which 100% means the same thing as "Yes, madam", but I figured a little extra context to the dialect wouldn't hurt.

This dialect, as most southern/redneck US dialects are, is really fun, energetic, and full of imagery. I really think such metaphorical and idiomatic language is where English really shines. We're all poets, in our own way, to the chagrin of many an English learner.

Edited to fix tags.

[allf100]

This dialect, as most southern/redneck US dialects are, is really fun, energetic, and full of imagery. I really think such metaphorical and idiomatic language is where English really shines. We're all poets, in our own way, to the chagrin of many an English learner.

Thank you very much for your help!

And I really appreciate your comment on American dialects, especially impressed by your words 'We're all poets in our own way'!

Have a good one!

[Iversen]

I can't exclude the possibility that "full of trouble" in some dialects simply means troublesome, but I have looked it up, and it seems that the expression comes from Job, and poor biblical Job may have been quite irritating and potentially dangerous for his surroundings who got hit with all the troubles that some evil God sent to Job to test his unwawering and unfounded beliefs - but it was not Job that caused the troubles, it was God. As I read the quote it says that any man (maybe also women, but that's not part of the statement) lives a short life full of problems, period.

[allf100]

I can't exclude the possibility that "full of troble" in some dialects simply means troublesome, but I have looked it up, and it seems that the expression comes from Job, and poor biblical Job may have been quite irritating and potentially dangerous for his surroundings who got hit with all the troubles that some evil God sent to Job to test his unwawering and unfounded beliefs - but it was not Job that caused the troubles, it was God. As I read the quote it says that any man (maybe also women, but that's not part of the statement) lives a short life full of problems, period.

Thank you very much for your answer.

The Biblical references are a very big challenge.