Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Slip sliding away

Hi folks!
A proposito di canzoni, lo 'sliding' che Ferdinando Chiodo ha scritto in un
altro post mi ha fatto tornare alla mente un atroce dubbio che ho ormai da
anni:
ricordate la canzone di Simon & Garfunkel "Slip slidin' away"? Non sono mai
riuscito a capire il significato del titolo!!!!
Il ritornello fa:
Slip slidin' away
Slip slidin' away
You know the nearer your destination
The more you're slip slidin' away
Secondo me l'ultima riga avrebbe senso solo se esistesse il verbo
"to slip-slide"..... ;-)
grazie a tutti :-)
ciao
Gennaro
----
Stay! Is the spike so low a thing as the rusty spike on the top of a post of
an old bedstead that has tumbled all awry?
----
Per rispondere eliminare ".HELL" dall'indirizzo.
To reply remove ".HELL" from the end of the address.

"to slip-slide"..... ;-)
quello forse non esisterà, ma io direi 'scivolando via'... non dimenticare
ciò che si è detto più volte qui, cioè che la lingua delle canzoni è ricca
d'invenzioni e licenze 'poetiche' che non sempre sono corrette e/o
traducibili al 100%, ma rendono per l'appunto un'immagine poetica...
ciao
Isa
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching

"to slip-slide"..... ;-)
As far as I know there is no verb "to slip-slide." English speakers often will
combine verbs to enhance meaning.  In this case, "slip" may be functioning
as an adverb.  I am not certain and don't feel like looking it up. Perhaps
someone who cares about categorizing linguistic conventions can offer the
grammatical explanation. (I'll be talking to an editor later today, and I may
ask her.) In any case, it is a poetic practice.
The song lyric means that you are slipping away and you are sliding away. Using
these two words together brings a set of connotations to the reader that overlap
in meaning-- in some aspects the same and in some aspects different. Together
they communicate more than each communicates independently.
If James Joyce can write of "the squiggee cum squeeze that swallers itself," we
can allow Paul Simon his more restrained poetic expression.
Ciao,
Ron
USA

USA


so... what's the difference between slipping away and sliding away?
Without looking up the dictionary definition, I'll take a stab at the
connotations. To "slip away" has a connotation of quietly disappearing from a
scene without notice. For example, you can slip away from a boring party. It may
also mean to move away from one's grasp through a definite movement in a certain
direction. For example, you can reach for someone's hand as they slip away into
a pool of quicksand (a liquified hole of sand that sometimes engulfs actors in
"B" movies, threatening to drown them.) To "slide away" has a connotation of a
continuous, smooth movement across a surface away from the observer. For
example, you can watch a hockey puck slide away from you after giving it a push
across the ice. To "slip" (without away) has the connotation of a sudden loss of
footing. For example, you can slip on a banana peel left on a slick floor. Put
all of these together to get the feel of the invented combination "to
slip-slide."
Ciao,
Ron
USA

USA
Bye, and thanks for your (as usual) interesting reply!


I wonder if in an angry morning I can slam-dunk biscuits in the milk.. ;-)
You can also dunk donuts and cookies. But if you want to slam-dunk them, in an
authentic way, mount the glass on a flat wall surface over 3 meters high, and
jump up to the glass to slam-dunk the cookie into the glass, briefly hanging on
the rim of the glass with your hand before returning to the ground (for crowd
effect).
Buona fortuna.
Ciao,
Ron
USA

USA
bye
Gennaro
Italy
