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I will be wizened, you cavalier,
for the lighter-of-foot
Sep 24, 2009 21:23
14 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term

you cavalier

English Other Poetry & Literature
What do you understand by "I will be wizened, you cavalier,..."

a) I will be wizened and you will be cavalier (ellision of verb "to be")
b) cavalier, I will be wizened (vocative)

Many thanks in advance.


Mind? Why should I mind? The fact that I came upon that book in a Paris bookstall in April 1959—the 13th I believe it was, the afternoon, it was drizzling—that I found it after searching all Europe and North America for a copy; that it is dog-eared at passages that mean more to my life than my heartbeat; that the mere touch of its pages recalls to me in a Proustian shower my first love, my best dreams. Should I mind that you seek to take all that away? That I will undoubtedly never get it back? Then even if you actually return it to me one day, I will be wizened, you cavalier, and the book spoiled utterly by your mishandling? Mind?
Responses
4 +2 you will be cavalier
4 careless person, one who doesn't care
3 It is like saying "you jerk" in a conversation

Discussion

Gary D Sep 26, 2009:
cavalier nonchalance
Dylan Edwards Sep 26, 2009:
"old and frail", sure - but what sort of sentence is this (series of sentences, really)? It's carefully contrived, rhetorical. Try reading it to yourself. Don't you hear all of it, and those last phrases in particular, in a particular cadence building up to the final "Mind?" It comes across more powerfully, in my opinion, if you don't take "you cavalier" as some sort of interjection.
Gary D Sep 25, 2009:
"Then even if you actually return it to me one day, I will be wizened, you cavalier, and the book spoiled utterly by your mishandling? Mind?"
How you would say it today.
Then even if you actually return it to me one day, I will be old and frail --- you wanker!!!---- and the book will be stuffed by your mishandling! Mind? --- you are asking me If I mind--- bloody oath I mind!!!
Dylan Edwards Sep 25, 2009:
Yes, and more specifically, at the time when the book is returned (if it ever is), the lender will be shrivelled with age, and the borrower will be cavalier in the sense of not being in the least apologetic about keeping the book so long (probably not showing any gratitude, or even appreciation of the book). The book will just be given back in an offhand way.
Jim Tucker (X) Sep 25, 2009:
Not likely to be a vocative This component of the quote was only an incidental part of the question that was previously answered. The vocative interpretation is very unlikely; to take it as an elision of the verb "to be", on the other hand, offers an explanation of the damage to the book.
Polangmar Sep 24, 2009:
This question has been answered ("I will be an old man, you rogue", which clearly means a vocative, not an ellision of the verb "to be") here: http://www.proz.com/kudoz/3468790 . What else would you like to know?
writeaway Sep 24, 2009:
What's the difference between the 2 questions? http://www.proz.com/kudoz/English/poetry_literature/3468790-...

Responses

+2
14 hrs
Selected

you will be cavalier

I read it as elision last night and I still read it as elision:

"I will be wizened, you (will be) cavalier, and the book (will be) spoiled utterly by your mishandling"

I agree with the interpretations of individual words - wrinkled with age, offhand in manner - but the rhythm and sense of the whole passage do not seem compatible with the interpretation of "you cavalier" as a vocative.

The most emphatic words are the "Mind?" at the beginning and the "Mind?" at the end, and the whole passage in between flows rhetorically - it is, after all, a series of rhetorical questions - and "you cavalier" as a vocative would interrupt the flow.

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Note added at 1 day9 hrs (2009-09-26 07:22:16 GMT)
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Essentially, everything hangs from that word, "mind":

Should I mind that I will be wizened?

Should I mind that you will be cavalier?

Should I mind that the book will be spoiled utterly?

The writer is piling it on for comic effect. It is unlikely that the writer would weaken that effect so seriously, near the end, by breaking the chain of "Mind?"-dependent clauses.

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Note added at 1 day12 hrs (2009-09-26 09:32:10 GMT)
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- I mean it's unlikely the writer would want to use a term of abuse just there, near the end of the sentence, where it undermines the overall effect.

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Note added at 1 day14 hrs (2009-09-26 11:40:07 GMT)
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To sum up:
I get a strong impression that the writer is enjoying the use of ellipsis. There is what Jim has called a "tricolon", with three adjectives working in parallel: wizened, cavalier, spoiled.
Peer comment(s):
agree Jim Tucker (X) : yes - and the clincher is the third element: .." and the book" - has to be "will be" -- a tricolon of parallels; "Cavalier" as a vocative would have a different meaning (like "chevalier") and would not explain why the book would be utterly spoiled.
33 mins
Thank you. The use of "cavalier" as a noun would be odd here, and I agree with you about the structure (surely two successive elisions of "will be").
agree Lynda Bogdan (X) : adjective not noun....'distainful'
2 days 6 hrs
Thank you.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "many thankds"
10 mins

careless person, one who doesn't care

google "cavalier attitude" and see what you get.

see
http://www.answers.com/topic/cavalier
also

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070608215512AA...
A cavalier attitude towards anything means that you don't value it and treat it however you want...without considering what might actually be best for it.

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Note added at 15 mins (2009-09-24 21:38:05 GMT)
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Said here in the sense of someone who isn't going to take care of the book or bother to return it.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Jim Tucker (X) : The asker wants to know the construction - not the meaning of the word
2 hrs
true, but I don't think he understood the meaning in this context and that is necessary to understand the sentence construction.
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8 hrs

It is like saying "you jerk" in a conversation

I don't think this is the vocative in English, but I'm not sure what the grammatical term is.

Explained: the speaker addresses his interlocuter and describes him as something. For example, if you are speaking with me, you could say:

"What does this phrase mean, you native speaker, I have to know what it means from an authoritative source."

The speaker indicates that the question is addressed to me via "you" and also describes me "native speaker"

This can only be done without the very "be"

"What are have you done, you dumbbell, why can you leave her alone?"

"What is that, you smarty pants, you must know.
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