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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2010hard luck cause
Hi ! I would like you to paraphrase the following sentence. Particularly, I would like to know how you paraphrase "a soft touch" and "hard luck cause". He was a soft touch for whatever hard luck cause came his way. Thanks a lot in advance! LP > Hi ! > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > He was a soft touch for whatever hard luck cause came his way. Less elegant than the original, but perhaps more transparent: He was naively generous to anyone who came his way with a hard-luck story.  Signatureathel > > Hi ! > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > -- > athel I appreciate your help, Athel. I just wonder what the noun "cause" in the original sentence means. Does it mean "reason", or something else? LP >> > Hi ! >> [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >the original sentence means. Does it mean "reason", or something >else? It is the sort of cause defined here: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cause A goal, aim or principle, especially one which transcends purely selfish ends. He is fighting for a just cause. http://www.wordsmyth.net/live/home.php?script=search&matchent=cause&matchtype=exact 3. a principle or goal that one serves by action. Example: the cause of world peace. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.english.usage) On 1月23日, 午前5:34, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)" <m...@peterduncanson.net> wrote: > On Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:22:17 -0800 (PST), Lazypierrot > [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > - 引用テキストを表示 - Thank you very much for helping me! LP In message <bf22a13c-2254-4ff8-9bc8-162b59e167d8@o28g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, Lazypierrot <lazypierrot@gmail.com> writes >On 10 >wrote: >> [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] >> - 0 > >Thank you very much for helping me! By using "cause" instead of the more-usual "story", I get the feeling that the writer is being a little cynical about such things. It's a bit like if you asked someone, "Which crusade are you on today?", you would be being sarcastic. SignatureIan >> Hi ! >> [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > He was naively generous to anyone who came his way with a hard-luck story. It doesn't require naivete to be a soft touch, 1) because it doesn't require suspicion to be pecunious or stingy. 2) because someone who is neither stingy nor generous, someone in the middle, is not a soft touch, 3) Generosity, so to speak, and understanding how the money will be spent are pretty much separate things. There are plenty of worthy causes, people and places in need through no fault of their own, or even because of their own failings, that some people are willing to give to, while understanding the situation and without being naive. And without needing a hard sell, or begging. Those are also elements of being a soft-touch, although one can be a soft-touch without having every element. SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I was born and then lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 7 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years > On Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:27:31 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden > [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] > Brooklyn, NY 12 years > Baltimore 26 years Thank you, mm. BTW I wonder if it would make any big difference if the word "cause" is replaced by "story"? He was a soft touch for whatever hard-luck story came his way. LP >Thank you, mm. BTW I wonder if it would make any big difference if >the word "cause" is replaced by "story"? > > He was a soft touch for whatever hard-luck story came his way. It softens the derogatory tone. The original implied to me that the stories were falsely inflated into some kind of moral cause for action. ¬R http://users.bestweb.net/~notr/arkville.html "Doesn't that shred your buns?" --T.M. Pederson >> On Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:27:31 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden >> [quoted text clipped - 40 lines] > > He was a soft touch for whatever hard-luck story came his way. Story is fine. It more common and probably makes more sense than cause. Let's think about that. When an individual is asking for money for himself, most people wouldn't consider one person to be a "cause". But if he's asking for money for research to cure cancer, that's a cause, but it's not really a hard-luck cause. Sure, the people with cancer had bad luck, but I don't think that transfers well to the cuase itself. So what about raising money for relief in Haiti. That seems to me to fit much better the phrase "hard luck cause", but the more I think about it, the more I think I've never heard "hard luck cause". More likely, "for whatever good cause he heard about". >LP SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I was born and then lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 7 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years > He was a soft touch for whatever hard luck cause came his way. > > Thanks a lot in advance! > > LP I've heard of hard luck CASES, but not causes. Is this someone's typo? |
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