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Discussion Groups / English Usage / October 2008What does "to look along one's eyes" mean?
Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep: "she looked at me along her eyes" I'm "?". If you're "!", please respond, ta. > Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep: "she looked at me along her eyes" I'm > "?". > If you're "!", please respond, ta. This is a sheer guess on my part, but could it be the sort of look the late Princess of Wales was famous for? Otherwise, like the rest of the group, I'm clueless. >> Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep: "she looked at me along her >> eyes" I'm "?". >> If you're "!", please respond, ta. > This is a sheer guess on my part, but could it be the sort of look > the late Princess of Wales was famous for? Otherwise, like the rest > of the group, I'm clueless. Askance, so that the line of her gaze lay sideways along her face? There may be a connection with "to make long eyes" at someone, meaning to look seductively, beggingly, or appealingly. The phrase doesn't get as many hits in Google as I expected, but there are a few. > >> Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep: "she looked at me along her > >> eyes" I'm "?". [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > to look seductively, beggingly, or appealingly. The phrase doesn't > get as many hits in Google as I expected, but there are a few. Context is everything. Looking it up yields: === "What's your name?" "Reilly," I said. "Doghouse Reilly." "That's a funny name." She bit her lip and turned her head a little and looked at me along her eyes. Then she lowered her lashes until they almost cuddled her cheeks and slowly raised them again, like a theater curtain. I was to get to know that trick. That was supposed to make me roll over on my back with all four paws in the air. "Are you a prizefighter?" she asked, when I didn't. "Not exactly. I'm a sleuth." ==== so you guessed right. This is right at the beginning of the book, the first meeting of tough private eye with bad girl. In the movie Bahcall solves it more effectively. She lets herself fall over backwards, so Bogey has to catch her and hold her, forcing him to look at her lashes at closer range. Still not good enough to make him roll over though, Jan > In the movie Bahcall solves it more effectively. > She lets herself fall over backwards, > so Bogey has to catch her and hold her, > forcing him to look at her lashes at closer range. In the movie, Bacall doesn't play this chick (Carmen) but her elder sister Vivian. And in the book, too, Carmen faints into the arms of our man Phil Marlowe during their first encounter. > > In the movie Bahcall solves it more effectively. > > She lets herself fall over backwards, [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > sister Vivian. And in the book, too, Carmen faints into the arms of > our man Phil Marlowe during their first encounter. I may have misremembered. I'll see if I have the video as well, JAn "Askance" (from one side) is not a term that everyone understands, either, and it seems that every actor has a best side. From the sound, it's a cousin of stance. So, it isn't hard to guess, since it's a look, that it almost says "No", "Weird", or "What's on your dirty mind?", depending on how much eyebrow movement and in which direction. By itself, it only means "You hav my special attention" or "That isn't quite real". > "Askance" (from one side) is not a term that everyone understands, > either, and it seems that every actor has a best side. From the [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > direction. By itself, it only means "You hav my special attention" > or "That isn't quite real". It was a word I mispronounced as a child (/ '&sk@ns/), and misunderstood too, since I took it to be derived from "ask". |
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