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Defining terms and phrases

Defining terms and phrases

Postby soc2nd » April 13th, 2008, 1:37 am

I am looking for a resource to help me define the terms and phrases from Prince Caspian such as "whistles and whirligigs. Do you know of any resources I can use to help define phrases like this?
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Postby john » April 13th, 2008, 1:54 am

Perhaps just a dictionary would help?

A whirligig is a type of "windmill" lawn ornament that moves with the wind. It can also be used as a word to describe a child's spinning toy.

Oh, and it's also a torture device where the victim is caged and spun around.
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Postby Leslie » April 13th, 2008, 2:13 am

As far as the phrases go, I don't think they have any meaning in themselves. It is my impression that Trumpkin paired alliterative words to use as epithets in his speech, but there is little meaning in the pairing of the words. They sometimes are related to the subject of the conversation (e.g. "weights and waterbottles" when Edmund is sitting on him in Aslan's How), but often they appear to be completely random (e.g. "crows and crockery" when he sees the dryads on the march).
"What are you laughing at?"
"At myself. My little puny self," said Phillipa.
--Rumer Godden, In This House of Brede
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