Jan 28, 2009 15:51
15 yrs ago
English term

do his own cleaning

Non-PRO English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature urban life; drug
The following is from Lawrence Block's Small Town. "He" is a cleaner in New York who does cleaning for clubs and some private clients. "He" is also an ex-addict who now attends Narcotics Anonymous meetings and is able to resist the tempt even though he has lots of exposure to drugs in his cleaning work.

I can't understand the last two sentences. Why the dot-com exec, with the jar of amphetamine drug, would do his own cleaning? Does "do his own cleaning" mean something else? Can you please explain to me how you understand it? Thanks in advance!

The excerpt:
He'd run across drugs in the bars he cleaned, too, because people who were drunk and stoned tended to be careless, and the odd Baggie would turn up on the floor, or in the john, or, more than once, right out there in plain sight on top of the bar. And the apartments he cleaned had their stashes, legal and otherwise--the few ounces of pot in the model's undies drawer, the huge jar of Dexamil on the dot-com exec's bedside table, and with all that speed wouldn't you think the guy would do his own cleaning? Like four or five times a day?

Discussion

Xiaochuan Cao (asker) Jan 29, 2009:
Thank you! Thank you, every one, for your answers and peer comments!

Responses

+5
5 mins
Selected

do the cleaning himself, explanation below

I read this as being a humourous comment: the person (dot.com exec) for whom he's doing the cleaning, if he were to take the contents of the jar would become hyperactive, might be expected to devote all that energy to whirling around his apartment with the duster/hoover etc. So literal meaning, but with comic slant. Would this fit?
Peer comment(s):

agree JaneTranslates : Yes, exactly my interpretation.
7 mins
Thanks Jane!
agree Alice Bootman : Exactly. Also because one of the stereotypes that goes along with "speed" use is the urge (and energy) to clean, clean, clean.
20 mins
Thanks Alice!
agree Gunilla Zedigh
21 mins
Thanks Gunilla.
agree Suzan Hamer : And with Alice; people on speed just can't sit still and do nothing, so they will scrub down walls, dust every book in the bookcase, and clean with the energy of a whirling dervish.
36 mins
Thanks Suzan.
agree jccantrell : Back when these things were used as legal dieting drugs, that was the side effect. Ah, for the good old (clean) days.
1 hr
Thank you!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks very much for your help fast response!"
6 mins

-

There's no hidden meaning here. It's simply a humourous comment saying that, with all the speed (drug) available to him, you would have thought the guy would have so much excess energy that he would be able to clean his apartment himself!
Note from asker:
Thank you very much!
Something went wrong...
7 mins

clean up his own house

It sounds like they are poking fun of this guy because he is a professional cleaner but does not bother to clean his own house (do his own cleaning).
Particularly, because "with all that speed" - amphetamines - uppers - energy pills - at his disposal, he should have enough energy to tend to his own house.
To say 4 or 5 times a day implies that he is swallowing a lot of speed. He has energy to boot.
Note from asker:
I think the "guy" here refers to the dot-com exec. Thank you all the same for explanation!
Something went wrong...
11 mins

explanation

This is sarcastic. People high on speed are compulsively active and in many cases exaggeratedly focused on details, so an exec who has a speed habit of this size should have more than enough energy to clean his own apartment, and most likely a strong aversion to spending time in an untidy room.
Note from asker:
Thank you very much!
Thank you very much!
Something went wrong...
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