Question 134
MediumOriginal questionAnimals talk to each other, of course. There can be no question about that; but I suppose there are very few people who can understand them. I never knew but one man who could. I knew he could, however, because he told me so himself. He was a middle-aged, simple-hearted miner who had lived in a lonely corner of California, among the woods and mountains, a good many years, and had studied the ways of his only neighbors, the beasts and the birds, until he believed he could accurately translate any remark which they made. This was Jim Baker. According to Jim Baker, some animals have only a limited education, and some use only simple words, and scarcely ever a comparison or a flowery figure; whereas, certain other animals have a large vocabulary, a fine command of language and a ready and delivery; consequently these latter talk a great deal; they like it; they are so conscious of their talent, and they enjoy “showing off.” Baker said, that after long and careful , he had come to the conclusion that the bluejays were the best talkers he had found among birds and beasts. Said he:
“There's more TO a bluejay than any other creature. He has got more moods, and more different kinds of feelings than other creatures; and, mind you, whatever a bluejay feels, he can put into language. And no mere language, either, but rattling, out-and-out book-talk—and with , too—just bristling! And as for command of language—why YOU never see a bluejay get stuck for a word. No man ever did. They just boil out of him!
The bluejay's language is "bristling with metaphor". This means it is
Show the answer and explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
To bristle with something is to be full of it. The bluejay talks "out-and-out book-talk", full of metaphors.
Worth noting
A bristle is also a stiff hair, but "bristling with" here means crowded with.
- Concept
- Understanding an idiom in context
- Typical timeTypical
- 40 s
- Your timeYours
- —
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