talking part down

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keannu

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Jim is curious about a boxer and his father's conversation problem thinking it's easy as they have some family dispute and haven't talked to each other for a long time.
What is "talking part down pretty good"?

[FONT=&#44404]Jim- What is so hard about people just talking to each other?
[/FONT][FONT=&#44404]Talk, listen, talk, listen.[/FONT]
[FONT=&#44404]Mel- [/FONT][FONT=&#44404] Was it ever that simple for you and your parents?
Jim- [/FONT][FONT=&#44404] Ok. We had the talking part down pretty good.


[/FONT]
 

Allen165

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Jim is curious about a boxer and his father's conversation problem thinking it's easy as they have some family dispute and haven't talked to each other for a long time.
What is "talking part down pretty good"?

[FONT=&#44404]Jim- What is so hard about people just talking to each other?[/FONT]
[FONT=&#44404]Talk, listen, talk, listen.[/FONT]
[FONT=&#44404]Mel- [/FONT][FONT=&#44404]Was it ever that simple for you and your parents?[/FONT]
[FONT=&#44404]Jim- [/FONT][FONT=&#44404]Ok. We had the talking part down pretty good.[/FONT]

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I'm familiar with the expression "have something down pat," which means one has mastered something or is very good at it. I guess that in your dialogue Jim is saying that he and his parents communicated well.
 

keannu

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NOT A TEACHER.

I'm familiar with the expression "have something down pat," which means one has mastered something or is very good at it. I guess that in your dialogue Jim is saying that he and his parents communicated well.


Thank you, but is it like "have something part down" or just "have something down"?
Which is correct between the two?
a, I had soothing part down with my baby.
b. I had soothing down with my baby.
 

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NOT A TEACHER.

I'm familiar with the expression "have something down pat," which means one has mastered something or is very good at it. I guess that in your dialogue Jim is saying that he and his parents communicated well.

I don't agree. He says communication involves talking and listening. He says they were good at the talking part.

He is saying they did not communicate well.
 

SoothingDave

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Thank you, but is it like "have something part down" or just "have something down"?
Which is correct between the two?
a, I had soothing part down with my baby.
b. I had soothing down with my baby.

Neither of those is very good. "I had soothing my baby down pat."
 

SoothingDave

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Pat | Define Pat at Dictionary.com

See the second sense of the word. It means "exactly to the point or purpose" or "learned, known, or mastered perfectly or exactly."

It's not really used in this way outside of phrases like "down pat" or "stand pat."
 

keannu

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Pat | Define Pat at Dictionary.com

See the second sense of the word. It means "exactly to the point or purpose" or "learned, known, or mastered perfectly or exactly."

It's not really used in this way outside of phrases like "down pat" or "stand pat."


Then, what Jim said was subtitled wrong. It should be corrected to "We had the talking pat down pretty good", right?

Jim-We had the talking part down pretty good.
 

SoothingDave

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Then, what Jim said was subtitled wrong. It should be corrected to "We had the talking pat down pretty good", right?

Jim-We had the talking part down pretty good.

No. The subtitle is correct. He did not say they have the talking pat down. That doesn't make any sense. If he meant that, he would say they had the talking down pat. (Pat down and down pat are two different things.)

As I said in my first post on this thread, he was contrasting the listening and the talking "parts" of what is needed for good communication.
 
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