The English Language

A section to discuss matters not related to Chess in particular.
soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Fri Feb 07, 2020 7:18 pm

Sorry, "Grist for the mill" is "something that opens the way"?

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: The English Language

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Fri Feb 07, 2020 9:02 pm

In a sense, perhaps. "Enables" may be an even better word though.
"Set up your attacks so that when the fire is out, it isn't out!" (H N Pillsbury)

soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Sat Feb 08, 2020 3:18 am

Matt Mackenzie wrote:
Fri Feb 07, 2020 9:02 pm
In a sense, perhaps. "Enables" may be an even better word though.
The problem is that the reference of "the mill" is not known to me. That is, I can't know it "enables" what or even opens what way.

John McKenna

Re: The English Language

Post by John McKenna » Sat Feb 08, 2020 9:11 am

The reference to a mill in "grist to the mill' is a general one.

An example of a 'mill' is a windmill.

Windmills used to be a common sight in Europe.

Do you know what windmills look like and what purpose they serve(d)? (If you look back through this thread at my comments you will find I tried, and failed it would seem, to give some idea of the kind of mill we are talking about here.)

More than enough explanation has been supplied about "grist to the mill" for you to discern the meaning of that idiom even if you still struggle to translate it into your native tongue.

As I said before, you should consult a person in your own locale (a teacher or professor of English) who knows both English and your language well enough to explain the nuances of it.

I fear no more can be done here to enlighten you (at least not by me).

Bye.

soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Sat Feb 08, 2020 4:18 pm

John McKenna wrote:
Sat Feb 08, 2020 9:11 am
The reference to a mill in "grist to the mill' is a general one.

An example of a 'mill' is a windmill.

Windmills used to be a common sight in Europe.

Do you know what windmills look like and what purpose they serve(d)? (If you look back through this thread at my comments you will find I tried, and failed it would seem, to give some idea of the kind of mill we are talking about here.)

More than enough explanation has been supplied about "grist to the mill" for you to discern the meaning of that idiom even if you still struggle to translate it into your native tongue.

As I said before, you should consult a person in your own locale (a teacher or professor of English) who knows both English and your language well enough to explain the nuances of it.

I fear no more can be done here to enlighten you (at least not by me).

Bye.
sure I do.
I've seen a windmill in Netherlands, and we had mills in Iran, which used powers of quadrupeds, waters, اhands, or winds (we needed bread during these 3000 years to survive!).

When someone says something that can be used by the enemy, we say he is 'pouring water to the mill of the enemy'.
When we say the mill turns by blood to exaggerate about the killing.
the millstone of the time is the problems that occurs to you which is grinding your bone

John McKenna

Re: The English Language

Post by John McKenna » Sat Feb 08, 2020 10:00 pm

Fee-fi-fo-fum;

I smell the blood of an Englishman.

Be he alive or be he dead,

I'll grind his bones to make my bread.
[Old nursery rhyme]

soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Tue Feb 11, 2020 5:58 pm

seems "Grist for the mill" means useful, right?

John McKenna

Re: The English Language

Post by John McKenna » Tue Feb 11, 2020 6:16 pm

Not really - it still means something that is absolutely appropriate for the job being done.

Without the exchange sac move (the 'grist') the subsequent moves on the board (the turning of "the mill") would not yield the required result - a winning advantage.

And, if you say it means 'useful', once again, you'll just be "tilting at windmills" to try to wind me uP!

soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Wed Feb 12, 2020 7:09 am

"Grist for the mill" mean "firewood for fire"?
meaning the subsequent moves are fire?
So what about the previous moves?

John McKenna

Re: The English Language

Post by John McKenna » Wed Feb 12, 2020 10:31 am

You got it!

Did you get this?
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soheil_hooshdaran
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Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Thu Feb 13, 2020 7:52 am

Well, I knew of that tournament, but I haven't been in Iran

John McKenna

Re: The English Language

Post by John McKenna » Thu Feb 13, 2020 8:53 am

Round round, get around,
I get around.

Get around, round round,
I get around

From town to town.
I'm a real cool head.
I'm makin' real good bread.

I get around...

Andy Stoker
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Re: The English Language

Post by Andy Stoker » Thu Feb 13, 2020 9:43 pm

Ah ha!

Post by Andy Stoker » Mon Jan 20, 2020 5:20 am

"Grist for the mill" is similar to "Fuel for the fire" .... something that keeps the entity going. It doesn't mean "excuse"

John McKenna

Re: The English Language

Post by John McKenna » Fri Feb 14, 2020 8:58 am

soheil_hooshdaran wrote:
Wed Feb 05, 2020 7:49 pm
SNIP
... And if, as Andy pointed out, it is keeping an entity alive, what is the entity?

soheil_hooshdaran
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Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:24 pm

Re: The English Language

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Sat Feb 15, 2020 3:23 am

What does it mean that an in-between move is brusquely imposed?