Coffee Break
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- Joined
- Feb 13, 2022
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- Student or Learner
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- Korean
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- South Korea
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- South Korea
I encountered the sentences "They put people in jail for sporting such huge ones / And this while it’s resting", but am struggling to understand them. Could you please let me know what they mean? Here is the excerpt:
As usual, I made my way straight into the kitchen. It felt safer there, and gave me time to settle in and get used to faces I hadn’t seen in a while. I found a huge uncut French cucumber and right away put it in my trousers. “They put people in jail for sporting such huge ones,” said Rachel. “And this while it’s resting,” I said, which brought a guffaw from all those in the kitchen. Someone suddenly burst in: “They’re fighting again.” “They should get a divorce,” said Rachel, “they’re jerks.” “Who’s the jerk?” asks her sister. “I am,” said the man who was just quarreling with his wife and who thrust his way into the kitchen to get a glass of water, “I’m the jerk, I am. I. Am. The. Jerk. See?” he said, ramming his head against the wall. “The biggest jerk on earth.”
- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Seventh Night
This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. It is narrated by a nameless male protagonist. He meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Now the protagonist is at another party, joking with the host Rachel.
I wonder what the underlined sentences mean.
I vaguely guess that they might be some kind of joke using the cucumber, but I have absolutely no idea why the people are laughing, so I wanted to ask you.
As usual, I made my way straight into the kitchen. It felt safer there, and gave me time to settle in and get used to faces I hadn’t seen in a while. I found a huge uncut French cucumber and right away put it in my trousers. “They put people in jail for sporting such huge ones,” said Rachel. “And this while it’s resting,” I said, which brought a guffaw from all those in the kitchen. Someone suddenly burst in: “They’re fighting again.” “They should get a divorce,” said Rachel, “they’re jerks.” “Who’s the jerk?” asks her sister. “I am,” said the man who was just quarreling with his wife and who thrust his way into the kitchen to get a glass of water, “I’m the jerk, I am. I. Am. The. Jerk. See?” he said, ramming his head against the wall. “The biggest jerk on earth.”
- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, Seventh Night
This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. It is narrated by a nameless male protagonist. He meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Now the protagonist is at another party, joking with the host Rachel.
I wonder what the underlined sentences mean.
I vaguely guess that they might be some kind of joke using the cucumber, but I have absolutely no idea why the people are laughing, so I wanted to ask you.