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Hi guys,

I'm not sure if my question really fits into this category, but please help me with it.

Could someone please explain what "barnacles" means in the following context: "Laws are too encrusted with cultural barnacles that obscure their true essence." I'm guessing it means "obstacles, impediments", but am not so sure. Am I right?

Thanks!

B.

The key is 'that obscure their true essence' - I wouldn't worry too much about what 'barnacles' (that is, "cultural barnacles") means exactly here (that is, what its synonyms might be), just try to appreciate the image (i.e. the metaphor); that being said, 'encrustations' would make a good synonym if it weren't for the fact that there's already the verb 'encrusted'. Hmm, how about 'useless and/or parasitic thingies'?

Actually, 'impediments' is kind of on the right track, I think :

impediment
ﾘnoun
1 the country's debt was a serious impediment to economic improvement
hindrance, obstruction, obstacle, barrier, bar, handicap, block, check, curb, brake, restraint, restriction, limitation, encumbrance, deterrent; drawback, setback, difficulty, snag, catch, hitch, stumbling block; informal fly in the ointment, hiccup, facer; Brit. informal spanner in the works; rare cumber.
-opposite(s): benefit.

(from the New Oxford Thesaurus of English)

But if you're looking for a more direct interpretation of what the author was saying, I'd add that the word 'barnacle' is used to metaphorically say that something sticks permanantly to a given object (as a barnacle to a ship's hull) and is seen, as FH pointed out, as a parasite. A parasite that cements itself to objects and can't be easily gotten rid of.

"Laws are too encrusted with cultural barnacles that obscure their true essence." Barnacles that don't leave and continue to obscure their true essence.

http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article?t ... rnacle&ct=

Good one, wjserson! I had in mind something like 'to obscure', but just couldn't think of that word! (Edit: I somehow missed or forgot that 'obscure' was in the OP's first post!?). So, yes, in addition to the parasitic drawbacks and potential damage, barnacles obscure the original shape and form of what was once e.g. a sharply hewn rock, making it ever more difficult to discern the original.

Thanks, you guys, for all the suggestions. They've been of great help!

B.

Hi everyone,

I'm back with another question. I'm just gonna go ahead and post it here, so I don't clutter up the list with so many vocab questions.

Could anyone explain what "pin-sized potions" means in the following context?

"An allergist can crack the secret code of your body's likes and dislikes merely by mapping out a grid on your back and pricking the skin with pin-sized potions."

How does this work? "Pricking" (as in "stinging"?) the skin with a liquid... That I don't get.

Thanks!

B.

The allergist would probably place drops on the skin before pricking through the liquid to get it underneath. If there's a reaction, it shows the patient is allergic.

Good morning!

That's what he did to me a couple of years ago when I had an exaggerated rash reaction to having eaten Chinese Food for lunch. The doctor pulled out a small wooden box and upon opening it, I saw several little bottles lined up. He chose half a dozen of those bottles and put a drop from each on my forarm. He then took a pricking instrument and scratched the skin where he had placed the drops. Half an hour later he looked at the spots and said that I was alergic to such and such as well as so and so.

peace,
revel.

Hi everyone,

thanks for all your helpful answers.

I have another question now.

Please have a look at the following sentence and paraphrase it for me, if you will. Thanks so much!

Pete Rose can count on his muscles springing into action to snare a screaming line drive because he has built that response into the neurons through hours of practice.

(I can understand most of the sentence all right, except for the bit I bolded. It probably has somthing to do with baseball, which I'm hopeless at.) Thanks again!

Bo wrote:
Pete Rose can count on his muscles springing into action to snare a screaming line drive because he has built that response into the neurons through hours of practice.

Yep, it's baseball. A line drive happens when a ball is hit in the air, but very close to the ground. A "screaming" line drive is one that travels very fast and is hard to handle. It will get to first base (or wherever) very quickly, and the player will need to get in the right spot right away to be able to snare it (or catch it.)

Lorikeet

Hi everyone,

pls help me with another vocab/agreement question.

What's the subject of shrunken in the following context? Is it "we"? Am really confused... Thanks!

"If shrunken down to their size, we would see red cells as bloated bags of jelly and iron drifting along in a river..."

Yes

Hi,

thanks for the reply. Here's another question, if you'll be so kind...

At the first sign of invasion, a Paul Revere alarm sounds, and numerous body systems hasten into action.


What's a "Paul Revere alarm"? I suppose it has some cultural/historical connotations which I just can't find the explanation for.

Thanks!

Hey all!

This goes way back to grade-school. Wasn't the Paul Revere thing

"One if by land, two if by sea"

meaning that if Mr Revere saw one lamp in the bell tower he'd know that the Red Coats (the Brits during the American Revolutionary War) were traipsing cross-country in their efforts to attack, while if two little oil lamps burned in that same tower, he would be able to inform his superiors that the Brits were coming by boat? Though, I suspect that whoever wrote Bo's sentence was simply being cute, a Paul Revere alarm was visual, not audio, so could not "sound", what would it be "one if it's cardio-vascular blockage, two if it's liver failure"?

Correct me on my history, it has been a long time....

peace,
revel.

revel wrote:Hey all!

This goes way back to grade-school. Wasn't the Paul Revere thing

"One if by land, two if by sea"

meaning that if Mr Revere saw one lamp in the bell tower he'd know that the Red Coats (the Brits during the American Revolutionary War) were traipsing cross-country in their efforts to attack, while if two little oil lamps burned in that same tower, he would be able to inform his superiors that the Brits were coming by boat? Though, I suspect that whoever wrote Bo's sentence was simply being cute, a Paul Revere alarm was visual, not audio, so could not "sound", what would it be "one if it's cardio-vascular blockage, two if it's liver failure"?

Correct me on my history, it has been a long time....

peace,
revel.

Grade school is further away for me, I bet. I thought the "one if by land; two if by sea" was done by someone else. When Paul Revere saw it, his job was to ride through the cities and sound the alert. ("The British are coming, the British are coming." so the story goes. )