Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[jasonlulu_2000]

Another difficult sentence for you to help me out:

I absolutely love to work backstage and on stage; I doubt whether you could find another girl who would like to work on a ladder up to her elbows in cables and dust and love every minute of it.

Could you tell me the meaning of "work on a ladder up to her elbows in cables and dust? Why does the author use the noun "dust", which seems to make no sense.


Jason

[asterix]

It means she is standing on a ladder. Up to her elbows, means literally, that her arms are buried as far as the elbows in something. (Up to her elbows in muddy water, for instance.)
However, the meaning has been broadened to include being involved with a large number, or amount of something, so here, it means she is dealing with a large number of (electrical) cables that are covered in dust.
The author uses the noun, dust, to show that it is a dirty job. If you are working with something covered in dust, a lot of it will get transferred to you.