On Tue 07 Jan, Joao Paulo Carvalho wrote:
> On Mon, 6 Jan 1997, Barbara Mallut wrote:
> several other very tasty herbal teas, with a heavenly spicy smell to the
> brewed tea. And if I can taste 'em and smell 'em, well, ANY Parkie could!
> ('cause there ain't a whole helluva lotta stuff that's tasty and/or pleasant
> > > smelling to THIS Parkie-type-gal) Enjoy.......
>
> Hi Barb,me again trying to catch the meaning of * helluva lotta *.
> Ours famous Webster College Dic. did'nt help me.I came to the conclusion
> I will have to relearn again yours original Shakesperean language... :-)
>
> Cheers,
> +----| Joao Paulo de Carvalho |------ +
> | [log in to unmask] |
> +--------| Salvador-Bahia-Brazil |------+
>
>
Hello Joao Paulo. I hope you don't mind if I say that I have in the past
obtained a lot of quiet amusement from your attempts to understand colloquial
American. Perhaps you are beginning to understand why it is described as one of
the most complex languages to learn. However,I just had to write and say, with
regard to your latest question to Barb, that if William Shakespear had been
asked to translate the term 'helluva lotta' you would have found him right
behind you in the queue for the Dictionary!
I don't know if it will help, but the words which seem to give you most
trouble are confusing because they are words that you would recognise, but
they have been spelled phonetically. That is, as you read the words out, you
get the sound of the word, but not the spelling. So, once you realise that 'a
helluva lotta' means 'a hell of a lot of' you have gone a long way towards
understanding what Barb is saying. Meanwhile, I keep giggling every time I
think of W. Shakespear writing 'To be, or not to be; thats a helluva question.
Don't give up, Barbara OR Jaoa Paulo,
Regards,
--
Brian Collins <[log in to unmask]>
