unlike in the dim and distant past ....

[goodboybkk]

Dear all,

Unlike in the dim and distant past ...... you have to hunt for food in jungle, nowadays you can just go to nearby market in 5-minute walk easily.

Do I have to write "when or where" in between past and you?

 

[stanislaw.masny]

I would write: "you would have to hunt for food in the jungle." Let's wait for the opinion of the experts.

 

[Piscean]

Unlike in the dim and distant past when you had to hunt for food in the jungle, nowadays you can just take an easy five-minute walk to a/the nearby market.

 

[Tarheel]

Perhaps:

Unlike in the dim and distant past when you might have to forage for food in the jungle, nowadays you just go to the nearby grocery store to get what you want, and you can be in and out in minutes.

Instead of "grocery store" you can say "supermarket".

Thanks to @emsr2d2

 

[emsr2d2]

Unlike in the dim and distant past when you might have to scrounge for food in the jungle, nowadays you just go to the nearby grocery store to get what you want, and you can be in and out in minutes.

In BrE, "scrounge" doesn't work there. It suggests that there were other people in the jungle and you could go and beg for food from them. I'd expect to see "hunt", "scavenge" or "forage" there.

 

[Tarheel]

In BrE, "scrounge" doesn't work there. It suggests that there were other people in the jungle and you could go and beg for food from them. I'd expect to see "hunt", "scavenge" or "forage" there.

Those work too. As for "scrounge" I used it to mean something similar to those other words. I don't intend it to mean anything like "beg" -- not even close.

One definition they provide at Dictionary.com is "to gather together by foraging". Oddly, the example sentence they give doesn't match that. Hm.

 

[EngLearner]

Unlike in the dim and distant past when you might have to scrounge for food in the jungle, nowadays you just go to the nearby grocery store to get what you want, and you can be in and out in minutes.

Does this version also work:

Unlike in the dim and distant past when you might have had to scrounge for food in the jungle, nowadays you just go to the nearby grocery store to get what you want, and you can be in and out in minutes.

 

[Tarheel]

@emsr2d2 I changed "scrounge" to "forage," which is, I think, the word I was looking for in the first place.

 

[Skrej]

I was surprised to see that most dictionaries list the 'beg' sense of 'scrounge' first. I've always used in the 'forage/scrap together' sense.

For example, I often see what I can scrounge up for a meal without having to go to the grocery store first.

 

[jutfrank]

I don't have a problem with Tarheel's use of 'scrounge' in post #4, either.

 

[emsr2d2]

Until jutfrank's response, I'd have said it was an AmE v BrE difference. In my lifetime and region, at least, it's only been used when asking someone for something you need/want.

Can I scrounge a cigarette?
She scrounged yet another cup of sugar from me yesterday.
I'm on the scrounge. Anyone got any teabags I could have?

 

[Skrej]

Until jutfrank's response, I'd have said it was an AmE v BrE difference. In my lifetime and region, at least, it's only been used when asking someone for something you need/want.

Can I scrounge a cigarette?
She scrounged yet another cup of sugar from me yesterday.
I'm on the scrounge. Anyone got any teabags I could have?

Although those first two examples work equally well in AmE, you might also well hear 'scrounge' replaced with 'bum'. That substitution wouldn't work though in the third example. Additionally, in AmE you'd be 'on the scrounge for X' in that context.

'Bum a cigarette' is so common it's almost a set phrase in and of itself.

 

[jutfrank]

'Bum a cigarette' is so common it's almost a set phrase in and of itself.

In slang British English, one might endeavour to 'ponce a fag'. 'Bumming a fag' could be construed as something altogether different!

 

[Piscean]

In slang British English, one might endeavour to 'ponce a fag'.

I have never head that expression.

'Bumming a fag' could be construed as something altogether different!

I had heard that 'fag' was more likely to be misconstrued in the USA.

 

[Tarheel]

These days most Americans probably wouldn't know what you were talking about if you used that word. (Fag.) Twenty years ago maybe.

The other one is strictly British.

 

[Skrej]

I had heard that 'fag' was more likely to be misconstrued in the USA.

These days most Americans probably wouldn't know what you were talking about if you used that word. (Fag.) Twenty years ago maybe.

'Fag' is still a common extreme pejorative in the US, although it's probably more likely to be considered hate speech nowadays. Few Americans would know the BrE sense of the word unless they've had exposure to BrE culture or media. Ditto for the longer version 'faggot'.

I first learned the BrE meaning one summer when I worked with some Scottish guys at a residential summer camp. I was listening to one of them tell a story about getting caught smoking on camp grounds (a major no-no and grounds for potential dismissal). When I asked him how he managed to get caught, he started telling how the director walked around the corner and caught him "with a fag hanging out of his mouth".

Knowing only the AmE sense, I was of course very confused as to what exactly he was caught doing. He was similarly confused as to what else I thought it could possibly mean, being completely unaware of the AmE sense.

This was the same summer that the young British women working in the front office saw the director walk by, and ran out asking him loudly in front of everyone if he had a 'rubber' she could use at the front desk. Amid the howls of laughter from all the Americans, the red-faced director responded with "I think you may mean 'eraser' - otherwise I'm afraid I don't." She was mortified when we explained that 'rubber' was AmE slang for 'condom'. Someone even went so far as to leave a box of condoms at her desk later on.

Good memories.

 

[Tarheel]

Yes, some of us older Americans have heard that word. (Fag.) However, if you are under 30 you are in my humble opinion unlikely to have heard it.

@Skrej Good story!