Apr 11, 2012 10:43
12 yrs ago
English term
official breath
English
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General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
I must plead guilty to the charge of abbreviating the official breath of more than one of these venerable servants of the republic.
Thank you!
Thank you!
Change log
Apr 11, 2012 10:43: changed "Kudoz queue" from "In queue" to "Public"
Responses
+3
2 hrs
Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Ireland
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
Ireland
right word, right place. everytime
Native in: English (Variants: UK, US, Canadian, Irish) 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English, and 1 more.
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663
Selected
discharging them and thus (because they lived for their jobs) shortened their lives
I think "murder" is way too strong here. It would seem from the extracts posted by Alison, that these civil servants died shortly after they were forcibly retired or discharged ("cashiered") because, like many of their kind, they lived for their jobs
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Note added at 2 hrs (2012-04-11 13:12:16 GMT)
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so, the ignonimy of being forcibly removed from their duties and having nothing to do, meant they "expired" shortly after.
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Note added at 5 days (2012-04-16 18:45:39 GMT) Post-grading
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glad to have helped
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Note added at 2 hrs (2012-04-11 13:12:16 GMT)
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so, the ignonimy of being forcibly removed from their duties and having nothing to do, meant they "expired" shortly after.
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Note added at 5 days (2012-04-16 18:45:39 GMT) Post-grading
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glad to have helped
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
B D Finch
: Caused them to continue breathing for a shorter time than they would have otherwise. Shortening their lives is certainly meant here. But, as you say, well "murder" is far too strong.
3 hrs
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Thank you!
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| agree |
Tina Vonhof (X)
4 hrs
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Thanks Tina!
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| agree |
Phong Le
1 day 21 hrs
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Many thanks Phong Le
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
24 mins
English term (edited):
abbreviating the official breath
murdering
I believe it means 'cutting short their life', i.e. killing them.
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Note added at 25 mins (2012-04-11 11:08:19 GMT)
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See this definition in NS OED:
4 The faculty or action of breathing; existence, spirit, life.
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Note added at 26 mins (2012-04-11 11:09:54 GMT)
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I don't think the 'official' means anything specific — they wouldn't have some kind of 'official life', though if they were some kind of officer or official, any life they had might jocularly be referred to as 'official'
Were these by any chance excise officers?
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Note added at 30 mins (2012-04-11 11:13:58 GMT)
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(At any rate, by the time he'd finished, they were certainly 'excised officers' LOL!)
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Note added at 25 mins (2012-04-11 11:08:19 GMT)
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See this definition in NS OED:
4 The faculty or action of breathing; existence, spirit, life.
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Note added at 26 mins (2012-04-11 11:09:54 GMT)
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I don't think the 'official' means anything specific — they wouldn't have some kind of 'official life', though if they were some kind of officer or official, any life they had might jocularly be referred to as 'official'
Were these by any chance excise officers?
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Note added at 30 mins (2012-04-11 11:13:58 GMT)
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(At any rate, by the time he'd finished, they were certainly 'excised officers' LOL!)
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Terry Richards
: I think your general drift is right but did he kill them or just leave them speechless? I think the "official" is just sarcasm.
50 mins
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I think it's too strong a term for simply 'leaving speechless', but yes, maybe he cut short their lives as officials It helps now we have the context!
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Alison MacG
: I think murdering is too strong here and that this is more about removing from office (though death still appears to be the result!) - see refs below
54 mins
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Well, your ref. does mention 'exterminating'...
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4 hrs
discharging/firing/sacking
I realise this is almost the same as gallagy2's answer, but I just wanted to make clear that this sentence ONLY refers to their being discharged. Here is a quote from the story
Two or three of their number, as I was assured, being gouty and rheumatic, or perhaps bed-ridden, never dreamed of making their appearance at the Custom-House, during a large part of the year; but, after a torpid winter, would creep out into the warm sunshine of May or June, go lazily about what they termed duty, and, at their own leisure and convenience, betake themselves to bed again. I must plead guilty to the charge of abbreviating the official breath of more than one of these venerable servants of the republic.
He cut short their official breath - he sacked them.
They were discharged because they were old and lazy.
It is only in the next sentence that the narrator says that this sacking apparently killed them.
They were allowed, on my representation, to rest from their arduous labors, and soon afterwards—as if their sole principle of life had been zeal for their country’s service; as I verily believe it was—withdrew to a better world.
The whole passage - about their venerability, service to their country etc. - is of course totally ironic.
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Note added at 5 hrs (2012-04-11 15:48:52 GMT)
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http://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/lit/the-scarlet-letter/the-...
I let them stop doing their official duties, and as if their only aim in life had been to serve their country, they soon went to a better place.
This is the 'modern English' version proposed by a site used a lot by school students
Two or three of their number, as I was assured, being gouty and rheumatic, or perhaps bed-ridden, never dreamed of making their appearance at the Custom-House, during a large part of the year; but, after a torpid winter, would creep out into the warm sunshine of May or June, go lazily about what they termed duty, and, at their own leisure and convenience, betake themselves to bed again. I must plead guilty to the charge of abbreviating the official breath of more than one of these venerable servants of the republic.
He cut short their official breath - he sacked them.
They were discharged because they were old and lazy.
It is only in the next sentence that the narrator says that this sacking apparently killed them.
They were allowed, on my representation, to rest from their arduous labors, and soon afterwards—as if their sole principle of life had been zeal for their country’s service; as I verily believe it was—withdrew to a better world.
The whole passage - about their venerability, service to their country etc. - is of course totally ironic.
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Note added at 5 hrs (2012-04-11 15:48:52 GMT)
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http://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/lit/the-scarlet-letter/the-...
I let them stop doing their official duties, and as if their only aim in life had been to serve their country, they soon went to a better place.
This is the 'modern English' version proposed by a site used a lot by school students
Reference comments
1 hr
Alison MacG
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
&
English
United Kingdom
Patents and related material specialist
Native in: English (Variants: British, Scottish, UK)
Works in: German to English, French to English, Swedish to English, and 4 more.
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12
Reference:
Throughout his reflections on political spoils, Hawthorne differentiates between his personality and values as a private individual--a "real human being" (SL, 43)--and his public status in the custom-house and the newspapers. For the latter role he is fond of using the modifier "official" (e.g., "my official conscience," SL, 14), with, one suspects, a sense of verbal interplay among those meanings that refer to the authority of an officer and those pertaining to the bureau, the custom-house, the physical office (cf. his sketch, "The Intelligence Office," in Mosses). Overtones of the meaning "formal", or "decorous" may also be intended. In this playful spirit Hawthorne calls an eighteenth-century Surveyor his "official ancestor," and speaks of cashiering elderly employees as "abbreviating [their] official breath" (SL, 33, 13).
Masters are portrayed as actual or potential persecutors in both "The Custom-House" and "Bartleby." When Hawthorne assumes office, he "abbreviat[es] the official breath" of a few workers and is feared as an "exterminating angel" (SL, 14) by the remainder.
http://web.ku.edu/~zeke/bartleby/moldenha.htm
Thus, on taking charge of my department, I found few but aged men.
...
Though by no means less liable than their fellow-men to age and infirmity, they had evidently some talisman or other that kept death at bay.
...
They were allowed, on my representation, to rest from their arduous labours, and soon afterwards--as if their sole principle of life had been zeal for their country's service--as I verily believe it was--withdrew to a better world.
http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/sl.txt
Masters are portrayed as actual or potential persecutors in both "The Custom-House" and "Bartleby." When Hawthorne assumes office, he "abbreviat[es] the official breath" of a few workers and is feared as an "exterminating angel" (SL, 14) by the remainder.
http://web.ku.edu/~zeke/bartleby/moldenha.htm
Thus, on taking charge of my department, I found few but aged men.
...
Though by no means less liable than their fellow-men to age and infirmity, they had evidently some talisman or other that kept death at bay.
...
They were allowed, on my representation, to rest from their arduous labours, and soon afterwards--as if their sole principle of life had been zeal for their country's service--as I verily believe it was--withdrew to a better world.
http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/sl.txt
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