Hi, Michael!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

 AK>  -----Beginning of the citation-----
 AK>  The bus chugged westward. On both sides of the streets
 AK>  were interesting buildings. The Cowboy's Retreat was a
 AK>  log cabin fronted with flashing neon lights. The Emerald
 AK>  Crown was a hotel shaped like a wedding cake with a carpet
 AK>  that rolled down to the road like a green beach meeting
 AK>  a tarmac sea.
 AK>  ----- The end of the citation -----

 AK>  What is a green beach, what is a tarmac sea, and how
 AK>  can they meet?

 AH>  The word "like" tells me the author is making a comparison
 AH>  here... technically a simile.  I imagine the carpet as a
 AH>  lawn, possibly made of fake grass, and the tarmac sea as a
 AH>  paved road.  Apparently one part of this lawn ends at the
 AH>  side of the road, i.e. the lawn & the road come into contact.

 MD>  This is what I meant except I thought of not fake but real
 MD>  grass.


           I thought of real grass initially, because a well-kept lawn is often
 described as a carpet in English.  But since there was no mention of a
sidewalk I began to wonder how the prospective bride would get to the front
door of this establishment without messing up her new shoes (or whatever).  I
am troubled by the idea that while other people's lawn parties are planned well
 in advance the maintenance is too... yet hotels must be prepared to accept
guests at any time. In an environment where a lot of other things seem
contrived their guests might settle for fake grass which needn't be mowed,
fertilized, &/or watered....  :-)

           If the hotel had substituted a bit of "indoor-outdoor" carpeting I'd
 expect to see a comma after "cake".  I am much relieved because I've yet to
see a carpet under a wedding cake.  A table cloth would be more usual...
[chuckle].



 AH>  In any case, the narrator is thinking of it as a beach
 AH>  adjacent to the sea....  :-)

 MD>  Exactly.


           And it would appear to me that Bing did you an injustice.  I have no
 idea how "adjacent" translates into Russian, but I see how in English the
exact interpretation may depend on the context.  IMHO we're on the same
page....  :-)



 MD>  BTW I was named a bad boy here but I consider it a
 MD>  compliment, since I was a boy very long ago. 


           In Aussie lingo, I think it probably is a compliment.  :-))




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)