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anchor in reality

English translation: connection to reality/ordinary life

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:anchor in reality
Selected answer:connection to reality/ordinary life
Entered by: BrigitteHilgner

07:54 Oct 28, 2005
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc.
English term or phrase: anchor in reality
I found this term in the following passage:
"He had found a bland apartment that could have been in any city in America. Bland didn't bother him. Working to the jazz beat and the hoodoo hum of New Orleans, especially as a homicide dick, he claimed that he ended every day in local-color overload. The ordinary apartment was his anchor in reality."
charoen
Local time: 23:56
connection to reality/ordinary life
Explanation:
I hope this answers your question - but I am not sure what you really want to know.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs 27 mins (2005-10-28 13:21:39 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

He felt that he got too much of the "jazz beat and hoodoo hum" of the city, that the special atmosphere of N.O. was getting on his nerves, too loud, too colourful, too "unreal". His own appartment is different (refreshingly?) bland and therefore to him more real than life outside his appartment. I guess this person is not only from a different town/village, he comes from a completely different environment and feels overwhelmed by N.O.
Selected response from:

BrigitteHilgner
Austria
Local time: 18:56
Grading comment
Thanks a lot, Brigitte and all other answerers and commenters.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
3 +12connection to reality/ordinary life
BrigitteHilgner
4 +5Calm, serene, quiet, relaxed
Kurt Porter
5Made him feel stable in the situation
Rutie Eckdish


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
Calm, serene, quiet, relaxed


Explanation:
The detective finds the "jazz beat and the hoodoo hum of New Orleans" a bit much for his personal taste. It would not be part of his own personal lifestyle. When he goes back to his apartment that is plain, and which does not reflect New Orleans, the detective is in his own element...or in his version of "reality."

Kurt Porter
Local time: 21:56
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Balaban Cerit
25 mins
  -> Thank you, Balaban.
agree  Arcoiris
52 mins
  -> Thank you, Apricitas.
agree  Rajan Chopra
3 hrs
  -> Thank you, langclinic
agree  Will Matter: Daily life in N. O., with its' "hoodoo hum" is too exciting/too stimulating so when he goes back to his plain & ordinary apartment at the end of the day it makes him feel stable, normal & sane. "Homicide dick" = "homicide policeman", it's slang English.
12 hrs
agree  Alfa Trans (X)
1 day 5 hrs
neutral  Refugio: That is one interpretation. Another would be that its blandness, which would not ordinarily have appealed to him, worked as an antidote to the hyperexcitement of N.O.
1 day 11 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +12
connection to reality/ordinary life


Explanation:
I hope this answers your question - but I am not sure what you really want to know.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs 27 mins (2005-10-28 13:21:39 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

He felt that he got too much of the "jazz beat and hoodoo hum" of the city, that the special atmosphere of N.O. was getting on his nerves, too loud, too colourful, too "unreal". His own appartment is different (refreshingly?) bland and therefore to him more real than life outside his appartment. I guess this person is not only from a different town/village, he comes from a completely different environment and feels overwhelmed by N.O.

BrigitteHilgner
Austria
Local time: 18:56
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks a lot, Brigitte and all other answerers and commenters.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jack Doughty
21 mins
  -> Thank you!
agree  Balaban Cerit
22 mins
  -> Thank you!
agree  transparx
40 mins
  -> Thank you!
agree  Asaphina
1 hr
  -> Thank you!
agree  Vicky Papaprodromou
1 hr
  -> Thank you!
agree  Rajan Chopra
3 hrs
  -> Thank you!
agree  Maria Chmelarova
4 hrs
  -> Thank you!
agree  Michael Barnett: Yes, and "anchor" alludes to a quiet harbour away from the turmoil of N.O.
8 hrs
  -> Thank you! Sadly, in connection with N.O., the quiet harbour has got an additional, very special meaning. :-)
agree  Tania Marques-Cardoso: Certainly.
10 hrs
  -> Thank you.
agree  Will Matter: with MB. Too much daily excitement/stress/adventure as a policeman (to the point of possible psychic "overload") so when he returns home each day to his plain & ordinary apartment it makes him feel natural, normal, secure & OK.
12 hrs
  -> Thank you. A very good explanation.
agree  Alfa Trans (X)
1 day 5 hrs
  -> Thank you!
agree  Refugio
1 day 11 hrs
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19 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
Made him feel stable in the situation


Explanation:
made him feel he was tied to, related, stable in the reality that was being created around him.

Rutie Eckdish
United States
Local time: 12:56
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in HebrewHebrew
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