Hi,

I wonder if you can help me understand the underlined expression.

There has been a flood in the valley, a big mess. And in this valley sometimes adders are seen. The writer describes a couple talking after the flood:

One thing about the flood, I said to Charles - it would have cleared out all the adders. Rotten for anything, to be caught by the water in its hole, but at least now the Valley was safe…

I can’t quite grasp the meaning of “rotten for anything”, also because I can’t understand if it refers to the adders or the flood. I mean, is the woman taking pity on the adders because they were caught in their holes, or is she saying that the flood, despite being bad, was good for something (clearing the adders)?

Thank you very much for your help - I’m lost…

Ana

Hi aalvares, in this context, “rotten for anything” means “what a dreadful thing to happen to any living creature”.  So bad luck for the adders, who drowned in their holes, but at least with their death they no longer presented a threat to the Valley.

Not so bad for an Anaconda though, it would just swim around, eating drowned animals.

Hi dougland,
It makes sense. Thank you for your answer! Ana

totally get the same idea as Doug.  The adders drown in their holes, poor snakes, pity the adders.

I’ve remembered a lovely story my high school maths teacher told -

The Old Testament tells how Noah built an ark to escape an impending apocalyptic flood that threatened to wipe out every living thing.  He took one male and one female of all the animals that could not swim onto the ark, and rode out the flood with them. 

When the waters subsided, the ark settled on the side of a mountain.  Noah gathered the animals together, congratulated them on their good fortune and sent them on their way with the mandate “Go forth and multiply!”.  So they went, all but the two snakes, who remained, coiled up, on the deck with mournful expressions.

“What’s the matter with you two coils of misery ?” Noah asked them.

“Well you told us to go forth and multiply, but we can’t.  We’re adders!”

“No problem”, Noah told them, “Wait a bit”, and he ducked off into the Ark’s library, coming back with a small book, which he gave to them.

“Here you go, it’s a set of logarithmic tables.”  And that’s how the adders managed to multiply.

The version of the story my teacher told followed a different arithmetic, with Noah addressing all the male creatures, saying: “Divide and bonk her!”

They must be pretty good at maths then!

douglang - 27 January 2009 01:33 AM

I’ve remembered a lovely story my high school maths teacher told -

The Old Testament tells how Noah built an ark to escape an impending apocalyptic flood that threatened to wipe out every living thing.  He took one male and one female of all the animals that could not swim onto the ark, and rode out the flood with them. 

When the waters subsided, the ark settled on the side of a mountain.  Noah gathered the animals together, congratulated them on their good fortune and sent them on their way with the mandate “Go forth and multiply!”.  So they went, all but the two snakes, who remained, coiled up, on the deck with mournful expressions.

“What’s the matter with you two coils of misery ?” Noah asked them.

“Well you told us to go forth and multiply, but we can’t.  We’re adders!”

“No problem”, Noah told them, “Wait a bit”, and he ducked off into the Ark’s library, coming back with a small book, which he gave to them.

“Here you go, it’s a set of logarithmic tables.”  And that’s how the adders managed to multiply.

Cute, doug, but a “groaner”.  {Incidently there were seven pairs of all the ‘clean’ animals, which does not include adders}