vocabulary 04/08

[hela]

Dear teachers,

Would you please tell me what these expressions mean ?

1) As an apprentice, queuing in the spotless corridor on Thursdays outside the wages window, peering in at the comparative purity of desks and paper and slick, dandified staff, you got a queer, dizzy sensation. My brother was a clerk himself, at the Council House, but I never connected him with this Thursday vision.

2) Another clerical job, at a builder’smerchants, was redeemed to some extent by the fact that you were actually in the warehouse, among storemen, sales reps, and all the tangible, fascinating paraphernalia of the trade...

3) an established clerk

Many thanks,
Hela

 

[Anglika]

Dear teachers,

Would you please tell me what these expressions mean ?

1) As an apprentice, queuing in the spotless corridor on Thursdays outside the wages window, peering in at the comparative purity of desks and paper and slick, dandified staff, you got a queer, dizzy sensation. My brother was a clerk himself, at the Council House, but I never connected him with this Thursday vision.

wages window = the window through which the worker was paid his/her wages

The narrator has not connected his brother with this weekly process of receiving payment through the window.


2) Another clerical job, at a builder’s merchants, was redeemed to some extent by the fact that you were actually in the warehouse, among storemen, sales reps, and all the tangible, fascinating paraphernalia of the trade...
a company supplying builders with what they require to carry out their work.

3) an established clerk

A clerk whose position is assured.

Many thanks,
Hela

.

 

[hela]

And what iabout the following, please ?

My brother was a clerk himself, at the Council House

The old manwas treated with amiable contempt by the established clerks, who asserted their superiority now and again.

 

[Anglika]

And what about the following, please ?

My brother was a clerk himself, at the Council House

The old man was treated with amiable contempt by the established clerks, who asserted their superiority now and again.

Without context, the Council House will be the building in which the Council (whatever the Council is) has its offices.

The younger clerks rather despise the old man and they behave towards him with contempt, but without unpleasant aggression.