Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

JB>  When you are called to the "coda", the song (night out)
JB>  is about to end.

AH>  Thankyou, you've been a wonderful audience, we're outta
AH>  here....  ;-)

JB>  L!!! "Don't forget to tip your waitresses."


           At the golf club the waitresses didn't get tips... and on those
few occasions when I got paid for blowing my own horn the musicians didn't
either. While I earned less money that way, I also had fewer worries about
creepy guys trying to follow me home at 2:00 A.M.  But I hear what you're
saying....  :-))



[re being picky]
JB>  Like an old school chum, the constabulary insisted he
JB>  not ride his "Take me home" horse after a night at the
JB>  tavern, he tried the trip on his lawn tractor.


           IOW he obeyed the letter of the law rather than the intent.  Did
he honestly not get the picture... or did he prefer not to?



JB>  Well, I guess the caboose is the last to arrive at
JB>  the destination, but I am again caught talking in
JB>  riddles. (Have you noticed I'm bratty that way? B-)


           AAMOF, yes.  And of course I can offer a few theories about it:

     1)  You have an older sister who takes herself a bit too seriously... and
         you enjoy teasing her.  (That's an educated guess.  Eldest/onlies may
         be expected to act like miniature adults.  Younger siblings have more
         relaxed parents & more chances to study how they interact with kids).

     2)  As a child I often wished I had a little brother, although I realized
         little brothers can be bratty sometimes.  Perhaps I also realized, on
         some level, that Sis may need a little brother to help her loosen up.

     3)  You understand by now that I encourage others to think for themselves
         ... knowing full well they won't always agree with me!  While you may
         not have the faintest idea what I'm driving at sometimes, you know if
         you hurl enough ambiguities my way I'll see a few nuggets among them.

     4)  You write rock songs.  Okay, so you're using metaphorical language in
         your work & you're pushing the limits.  I can relate to both....  :-)



JB>  I'll dismiss the photographs I've seen where a
JB>  construct will install a caboose directly behind
JB>  the engine


           I also decided not to count examples in which the order of the
cars didn't follow the usual pattern because we were talking about a
metaphor here. You'll have ample opportunity to use left-brain
detail-oriented reasoning when we talk about rehabilitating other people's
castoffs & parsing sentences.  ;-)



JB>  but like regular assumptions,


           Uh-huh.  While I could have used the dictionary definition, I
think "usually the last car" is the most important bit in this
example.  Many people who aren't English majors and/or who aren't old
enough to remember seeing such things wouldn't get the rest.  If you're
talking to somebody who is reasonably literate in music, they will have
some idea what a coda is although the others around you may not.  They just
need to know enough to connect the two....  :-)



JB>  I was inferring to


           [Mental gear change.]  Do you mean "implying" or
"referring to"?  A lot of people aren't clear on that.  I'll
continue later, when you've had some time to read & mull over whatever
your dictionary has to say about it....  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+