Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hiromichi]

What does "got a football team" mean?


For guys used to snow and seal meat, grapes were a real
find. So they built a settlement meant to last, with great
halls, a forge, and comfortable huts. Yet after only a few
years, the small colony faded away, and history's official
memory of "Vinland" faded with it. Columbus got all the
glory, and the Vikings got a football team.
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Hiromichi

[Lorikeet]

[hiromichi]

Lorikeet:
I get it. Thank you very much.
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Hiromichi

[hiromichi]

a survey of big pizza chain customers→should be→surveyed big chain customers?

Domino�s Pizza was hurting early last year. Domestic sales had fallen, and a survey of big pizza chain customers left the company tied for the worst tasting pies.
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Hiromichi

[Lorikeet]

[hiromichi]

Lorikeet:
Thank you.
I had interpreted that customers stayed away from Domino, but I should have interpreted as Verb+Object+Complement(leave the company tied for the worst tasting pies).
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Hiromichi

[Lorikeet]

Oh! I didn't realize that "leave" left you confused!

[hiromichi]

What does "prevail upon his sense of guilt" mean? It seems tome an odd expression.

At the ceremony, Mr. Obama praised his friend, Pete Rouse, who served as interim chief of staff after the departure last fall of Rahm Emanuel, who is running for mayor of Chicago.

Mr. Obama said that he had prevailed upon �Pete�s sense of duty � or sense of guilt� and that Mr. Rouse had agreed to serve as the president�s counselor for the next two years.
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Hiromichi

[hiromichi]

I wonder what does "be fought out below the line" mean?


Having so far concentrated on philosophy and politics we now turn to what was the major part of Marx's output, namely the economics. But it is in the economics where his political philosophy begins to take on real form. There is not space enough here to cover the enormous range of his economics but there are a few basics which need to be dealt with in this slightly longer piece and which can be fought out below the line as usual.
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Hiromichi

[hiromichi]

What does the first sentence mean


How does one actually go about losing a pyramid, let alone 17 of them?

That may be an even bigger mystery than the Sphinx but let's leave that for another day. In the meantime, scientific circles are buzzing over the news that pyramids were among 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements identified by a satellite hovering 435 miles above the Earth taking infra-red scans.
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Hiromichi

[Lorikeet]

[hiromichi]

Lorikeet:
Thank you.
I should have read like this:

How does one actually go about/// losing a pyramid, let alone 17 of them?
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Hiromichi

[hiromichi]

I like to know the etymology of the captioned expression.

beer mat knowledge - little trivia fun facts that are technically right, but doesn�t get you beyond definitions
popular understanding - such as a pop science book that gives you enough to talk about it at parties, but not enough to answer questions
primary source knowledge - reading books in the field
interactional expertise - doing it
contributory expertise - originating ideas in the field, serving as part of the peer community that defines and propels it
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Hiromichi

[Lorikeet]

I had to google "beer-mat knowledge" because I had never seen that description before. I looked at a few websites. One said that it was referring to the information you might find on a "beer mat" which I gathered would be the napkin or placemat they put at your place in a restaurant or bar. Sometimes they have miscellaneous facts on them. The other comment was that it is knowledge that has no use (trivia facts) but could be used in a pub quiz. (That would be a test of trivia you might do as a game in a bar.)

[hiromichi]

Lorikeet:
Thank you. Your explanation is persuasive. The expression is used in "The Third Wave of Science Studies: Development and Politics" by Henry Collins.
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Hiromichi