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Old 15-Jul-2003, 04:21
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Default A sentence I cannot understand.

Here is the sentence: Our conversation sounded less like the cooing of lovebirds and more like the barking of pit bulls.
I don’t know what is "pit bull"? And what does the sentence mean?
It’s from an article written by an American, the following is the context.
The early November storms had melted, leaving an endless landscape of gray trees and mire green earth. It fit our moods. My husband and I vacillated between extreme joy over the life of our two-month-old son and extreme distress over our lack of sleep or time for each other. Our conversation, especially for the past two weeks, sounded less like the cooing of lovebirds and more like the barking of pit bulls.
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Old 15-Jul-2003, 14:57
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Default Re: A sentence I cannot understand.

Thank you for providing so much context. A pit bull (short for pit bull terrier) is a dog that is one of a breed that was originally bred for baiting bulls. The "cooing of lovebirds" is a pleasant sound. If the onversation sounded more like "the barking of pit bulls" it wasn't very pleasant. The "lovebirds" would have been showing each other affection. The "pit bulls" would have sounded angry.

Does that help?
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Old 16-Jul-2003, 06:36
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Default Re: A sentence I cannot understand.

Thank you, Ronbee, it helps a lot. And I still have a little doubt about this sentence "The early November storms had melted, leaving an endless landscape of gray trees and mire green earth. "Since this article is written by an American, I want to ask you whether the winter is just coming in early November, so the tree leaves have fallen and turned gray but grass are still green. Should I understand this sentence in this way?
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Old 16-Jul-2003, 13:00
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Default Re: A sentence I cannot understand.

Re:
"The early November storms had melted, leaving an endless landscape of gray trees and mire green earth. "

I don't know what it means when it says the storms have melted, but around here the leaves have fallen off the trees by November. And the grass is always green. It just doesn't grow much during the winter. (The only time the grass turns brown is under conditions of drought.)

I know what a gray November sky looks like, but I am not so sure about "gray trees" and I am less sure about "mire green earth".

From Dictionary.com, I got this for mire.

mire (mr)
n.
An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog.
Deep slimy soil or mud.
A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation: the mire of poverty.

v. mired, mir·ing, mires
v. tr.

To cause to sink or become stuck in or as if in mire.
To hinder, entrap, or entangle as if in mire.
To soil with mud or mire.

v. intr.
To sink or become stuck in mire.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Middle English, from Old Norse mrr, bog.]

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

There is no listing for mire as an adjective.

It is a rather poetic sentence, but the literal meaning of it is elusive.
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Old 17-Jul-2003, 01:58
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Default Re: A sentence I cannot understand.

Er...thank you Ronbee,I think I understand the sentence now. Thank you for so many explanations and your patience.
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Old 17-Jul-2003, 03:41
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Default Re: A sentence I cannot understand.

You're quite welcome.

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