is grown dull
English translation: has become unimaginative and uncreative
| 04:10 Aug 13, 2012 |
| English language (monolingual) [PRO] Art/Literary - Ships, Sailing, Maritime / History | |||||||
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|  Selected response from: Martin Riordan Brazil Local time: 18:32 | ||||||
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Answers
36 mins confidence: 
peer agreement (net): +1
peer agreement (net): +1England has lost the edge Explanation: :) -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 36 mins (2012-08-13 04:47:12 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- not what it used to be ... -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 40 mins (2012-08-13 04:51:18 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- has fallen back and not come up with anything really new -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 55 mins (2012-08-13 05:05:55 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- has not produced anything innovative |
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6 hrs confidence:
has become slow-witted (with a suggestion of clumsiness and lack of sharpness) Explanation: I take it that this text was written in the 1600s; it certainly sounds like it. In order to assess what the writer might have meant by "dull", the best we can do is to consult Dr Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language, first published in 1755, the earliest available to us; we cannot be sure, in principle, that the word had the same meanings it has today. Johnson offers the following definitions of "dull" (I have omitted his illustrative examples from literature): 1. Stupid; doltish; blockish; unapprehensive; indocile; slow of understanding. 2. Blunt; obtuse [referring to a blade: not sharp]. 3. Unready; awkward [that is, clumsy and lacking in agility]. 4. Hebetated; not quick [lacking in acuity]. 5. Sad; melancholy. 6. Sluggish; heavy; slow of motion. 7. Gross; cloggy; vile. 8. Not exhilarating; not delightful. 9. Not bright [applied to a mirror or a light, for example] 10. Drowsy; sleepy." http://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofengl01johnuoft#page/n6... No. 8 corresponds to the primary meaning of "dull" today: boring, tedious; but as we can see, "dull" primarily noted a lack of mental agility and a slowness of intelligence and understanding in that period. Writers in this period tended to be very fond of verbal ingenuity and wordplay. I think the primary meaning of "dull" here corresponds to Johnson's first definition: the point is mental slowness. The idea is that other nations are quicker-witted and make quick (nimble) ships, whereas England has become slow-witted and therefore makes slower (sluggish) ships: dull in Johnson's sense no. 6. However, other meanings of "dull" are also relevant and implicit here: lacking in sharpness (a dull blade), brightness (a dull light) and agility (dull of movement). Thus there is a neat and quintessentially seventeenth-century association of metaphorical and literal qualities, primarily slowness. |
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35 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +4
peer agreement (net): +4has become unimaginative and uncreative Explanation: To make better and faster ships requires imagination, innovation, creativity. I understand the phrase to mean that these qualities were lacking in England and therefore the English ships were "sluggish and unserviceable". -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 54 days (2012-10-06 20:18:09 GMT) Post-grading -------------------------------------------------- That's all right! I hope you are better now. :-) |
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