[Essay] WHAT DOES " O'RE " mean?

[Peregrino]

Hi, teachers!

Please, help me in significance of this word, o're, in next phrase:

"She'll be flyin' o're my home."

By the way, "pavement" in phase below means "road"?

"But I'm out here on the grass where the pavement never grows."

Thanks in advance.

 

[bhaisahab]

Hi, teachers!

Please, help me in significance of this word, o're, in next phrase:

"She'll be flyin' o're my home."

By the way, "pavement" in phase below means "road"?

"But I'm out here on the grass where the pavement never grows."

Thanks in advance.

It's "o'er" and it's a (poetic) abbreviation for "over". "Pavement" in BrE is the same as "sidewalk" in AmE.

 

[Raymott]

Hi, teachers!

Please, help me in significance of this word, o're, in next phrase:

"She'll be flyin' o're my home."
'O'er' means 'over'. I'm not sure about 'o're'. It's probably a typo.


By the way, "pavement" in phase below means "road"?

"But I'm out here on the grass where the pavement never grows."
No, it can mean any paved path. It's also meant to be ironic.

Thanks in advance.

R

 

[BobK]

Hi, teachers!

Please, help me in significance of this word, o're, in next phrase:

"She'll be flyin' o're my home."

I assume you're getting this from printed song lyrics. It's a typo for "o'er" - which is a poetically conventional abbreviation for "over" (that is, "o'er" isn't a colloquial abbreviation in everyday use, but it's understood that if a poet needs a monosyllable to mean "over" it's OK).

By the way, "pavement" in phase below means "road"?
Sort of. It's the paved part of the street reserved for pedestrians.
"But I'm out here on the grass where the pavement never grows."

Thanks in advance.

b

 

[BobK]

PS Here are some paving stones (sometimes called 'paving slabs)
http://www.clearancepaving.co.uk/images/full_canterburyforestgrey.jpg, but I can't find an image that shows a pavement next to a road. In some countries, the footpath is just the a dustier part of the same surface. But in the UK it's normal to have this sort of arrangement:

111111111111111111111|x|==============
__________________www|x|


111111111111111111\111\
road surface11111111Gutter
1111111111111111111111Kerb (Am E 'Curb')
1111111111111111111111111111Pavement

b

 

[Barb_D]

I'm thinking the passage means out in the country where people don't need or want to put paved paths (by any name!).

 

[susiedq]

"But I'm out here on the grass where the pavement never grows."

would have made more sense as:

"But I'm out here on the pavement where the grass never grows."

 

[SoothingDave]

"But I'm out here on the grass where the pavement never grows."

would have made more sense as:

"But I'm out here on the pavement where the grass never grows."

I think they meant to twist the phrase.

 

[BobK]

I think they meant to twist the phrase.

Yes - to try to make the writer look clever. (As far as I'm concerned, the attempt fails ;-))

 

[lauralie2]

"But I'm out here on the grass where the pavement never grows."

would have made more sense as:

"But I'm out here on the pavement where the grass never grows."

Ah, yes, true. But if the meaning the writer intended is figurative, not literal, then pavement could refer to, say, civilization, and the lyric "I'm out here on the grass where the pavement never grows" is a way of expressing being on the outside, possibly on the fringe of society, perhaps loneliness.

As for the literal meaning, 'pavement' refers to tarmac or runway:


Lightfoot composed the song in 1964, supposedly inspired by seeing off a friend at the Los Angeles airport some years previous. The lyrics suggest someone down on his luck, standing by an airport fence and observing the thunderous takeoff of a Boeing 707 jetliner. The general narrative of the song can be taken as a sort of jet-age musical allegory to a hobo of yesteryear lurking around a railroad yard, attempting to surreptitiously board and ride a freight train.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopic-527473/gordon-lightfoot-lyrics

 

[kenkk2]

Lauralie2, well done ! Thanks all for good analysis.