Author Topic: "A hundert times" in four years?  (Read 11587 times)

Offline isabelle

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"A hundert times" in four years?
« on: April 29, 2006, 06:42:31 am »
As if it was the sort of things I think of when I get up on Saturday mornings... ::)

Ennis says in the short story that he "wrang it out a hundert times" thinking of Jack (understandably enough!), and that's over four years.
If we look at this in a mathematically practical way, that's once every fortnight on average. Which is still a lot, considering that all he had time for was making a living, that he had a wife around the house, which could make the opportunities for Ennis's favourite activity more random, and he also banged said wife from time to time. And there were the small kids to look after too.

But I have a feeling 100 times might just be an understatement...
;D
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Offline David

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2006, 07:02:01 am »
Well,  I think the hundred part is just an expression, but I will admit,  I sure have thought about past BF's on occassion while 'wranging it out"   LOL.

Offline Aussie Chris

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2006, 09:14:11 am »
*evil smirk*

I think you might be right - maybe more like a hundred times a year!  Take away the couple of weeks a year he spent with Jack, that makes twice a week.
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Offline isabelle

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2006, 10:56:05 am »
David: shouldn't that be "wringing it out? Just checking my vocab! ;D

And Chris: that was a hundred times during the four years they did NOT see each other! Man, go read the story again ! ;)
« Last Edit: April 29, 2006, 11:04:07 am by isabelle »
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Offline Aussie Chris

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2006, 11:01:46 am »
David: shouldn't that be "wringingit out? Just checking my vocab! ;D

And Chris: that was a hundred times during the four years they did NOT see each other! Man, go read the story again ! ;)

Err, yeah I know.  I was following your OP when you said 100 times in four years was an understatement???

A little testy today aren't we?  ;)
Nothing is as common as the wish to be remarkable - William Shakespeare

Offline isabelle

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #5 on: April 29, 2006, 11:07:53 am »

A little testy today aren't we?  ;)

Oops, didn't mean to sound offensive...  if you could hear me say it, you'd know I'm only -brutally - kidding  ;)
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Offline Aussie Chris

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #6 on: April 29, 2006, 11:19:20 am »

A little testy today aren't we?  ;)

Oops, didn't mean to sound offensive...  if you could hear me say it, you'd know I'm only -brutally - kidding  ;)

Wasn't offended, just sayin' is all...  It's ok to kid.
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Offline Ray

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #7 on: April 29, 2006, 11:36:04 am »
Testie?!  I wrang it out 100 times per day since seeing BBM!  Each and every time I checked for lumps!
~A good general knows when to retreat~

Offline isabelle

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #8 on: April 29, 2006, 11:43:47 am »
Testie?!  I wrang it out 100 times per day since seeing BBM!  Each and every time I checked for lumps!

Ah, here's Ray Nasty, now! Yeah, I thought you would, baby.
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Offline starboardlight

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #9 on: April 29, 2006, 11:55:00 am »
yeah, I agree, 100 times in four year was probably quite an underestimation.
Each and every time I checked for lumps!
he he. oh my mind just goes in all directions.
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Offline delalluvia

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #10 on: April 29, 2006, 12:58:04 pm »
Testie?!  I wrang it out 100 times per day since seeing BBM!  Each and every time I checked for lumps!

SUCH a bad boy!  Spank!

Hundred times is just an expression, I'm sure.  Otherwise it's not a lot.

Offline RouxB

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #11 on: April 29, 2006, 03:05:35 pm »
Ray-

Don't make me tell another story...

 O0

Heathen

Offline Aussie Chris

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #12 on: April 30, 2006, 01:54:26 am »
Testie?!  I wrang it out 100 times per day since seeing BBM!  Each and every time I checked for lumps!

Wow Ray, watch out for friction burns!  You really are a naughty boy – I love it.  And "Ray Nasty", that's a moniker worth holding on to!
Nothing is as common as the wish to be remarkable - William Shakespeare

Offline serious crayons

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #13 on: April 30, 2006, 02:38:41 am »
Back to the topic for just a moment, here's a theory I threw out recently on another thread and got some support for. Let's see what you guys think.

Movie Ennis, of course, never says "I must have wrang it out a hundred times thinking of you" -- it would be way out of character. But did anyone else notice a scene in the movie that might possibly be alluding to that line?

I'm referring to the moment right after Ennis gets Jack's first postcard. He reads it (eyes lit up, lips moving -- so cute!) and hastily explains to Alma they used to be fishing buddies ... and then BOLTS OUT OF THE KITCHEN, sort of tucking in his shirt but actually just wiping his hand on it, and heads toward the back of the house.

OK, so it's subtle. But, um, there's no doubt he's thinking of Jack right then ...

Offline isabelle

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #14 on: April 30, 2006, 05:04:28 am »
Wow, Katherine, and I thought I had a dirty mind!

RouxB, don't start what you can't finish: now you have to tell us the "other story"  :P
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Offline Aussie Chris

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #15 on: April 30, 2006, 07:51:44 am »
I'm referring to the moment right after Ennis gets Jack's first postcard. He reads it (eyes lit up, lips moving -- so cute!) and hastily explains to Alma they used to be fishing buddies ... and then BOLTS OUT OF THE KITCHEN, sort of tucking in his shirt but actually just wiping his hand on it, and heads toward the back of the house.

Hi Katherine.  I sometimes like to think of the parts of the book that are not in the film as still existing, just in between the scenes that we do see.  This also works the other way around when I read the book, so that the two are intertwined in my mind.  So I don't have a problem with Ennis running off after receiving the first postcard to "take care of business" – and now that you mentioned it, I'll never look at this scene in the same way – so thanks for that!  Also, this is just about my favourite Ennis moment (so cute and endearing), and continues right up to when he sends up a prayer of thanks.  It's the only time we really see Ennis as hopeful.
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #16 on: April 30, 2006, 11:21:07 am »
I agree, the half hour or so from the postcard to the prayer of thanks is probably my favorite half hour of the movie.

As for my theory, to clarify, it's not just about what Ennis is up to (in the sense that the characters have minds and lives of their own beyond what we see onscreen) but I also what I believe the filmmakers intended to suggest. You think?

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #17 on: April 30, 2006, 01:38:01 pm »
As for my theory, to clarify, it's not just about what Ennis is up to (in the sense that the characters have minds and lives of their own beyond what we see onscreen) but I also what I believe the filmmakers intended to suggest. You think?

Actually, I'm afraid I think he's just running out of the room to avoid having to answer any more questions that Alma might ask while the subject is foremost in her mind.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2006, 04:30:45 pm by Jeff Wrangler »
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Offline Kd5000

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #18 on: April 30, 2006, 02:27:11 pm »
Obviously Alma wasn't giving him the level of sexual pleasure that Ennis enjoyed while masturbating thinking of those time he and JACK made love.  Well they certainly made love in tent scene #2. Who wouldn't want to be Ennis in that second tent scene. How can Alma compete with that.. :)

I suppose the sexual encounters shown between Ennis and Alma don't strike me as particularly tender, more "mechanical," going thru the motions. Suppose Ennis had someone else on his mind :D  The wonder he j/o with such frequency.

Hey, Kevin Spacey was straight in AMerican Beauty and he used to J/o (that's how he started his mornings), so evidently he got more pleasure from that, then from sex with his wife. ANd Annette Benning was a bit prettier then Michelle Williams character.  I sometimes notice these things.  Just one of those things...

Offline serious crayons

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #19 on: April 30, 2006, 09:15:39 pm »
As for my theory, to clarify, it's not just about what Ennis is up to (in the sense that the characters have minds and lives of their own beyond what we see onscreen) but I also what I believe the filmmakers intended to suggest. You think?

Actually, I'm afraid I think he's just running out of the room to avoid having to answer any more questions that Alma might ask while the subject is foremost in her mind.

Oh well, Jeff. Once again, we differ. Your interpretation, I'll admit, is more logical and more soundly based on solid evidence. But mine is more fun AND at least somewhat plausible, and for me both those traits earn high scores when I'm deciding on my interpretation of an ambiguous scene.

Offline Aussie Chris

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #20 on: May 01, 2006, 01:42:20 am »
Oh well, Jeff. Once again, we differ. Your interpretation, I'll admit, is more logical and more soundly based on solid evidence. But mine is more fun AND at least somewhat plausible, and for me both those traits earn high scores when I'm deciding on my interpretation of an ambiguous scene.

Yeah I'm with you Katherine.  Although both alternatives are completely valid and plausible, when I put myself in Ennis' shoes after four years of pining for Jack, there would be more than a little stirring in the loins at the thought of: Friend, this letter is long overdue...
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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #21 on: May 01, 2006, 08:23:05 pm »
In my rural minded opinion and having lived around folks who used the expression "wrang it out" occasionally in conversation, the word has to do considering the answer to something and not figuring it out or trying to figure something out by thinking really hard, like continually putting a piece of wet laundry through a wringer attached to wash tub or a washing machine to get it as dry as possible so that it would only have to hang on the clothes line for a short time.

From the original story:

Quote
(")I never had no thoughts a doin it with another guy except I sure wrang it out a hunderd times thinkin about you. You do it with other guys? Jack?"


In Ennis's "wringing it out" way of thinking, he just could not understand why he had feelings toward Jack like he did.

That also goes along with what Ennis also said in the Motel Siesta to Jack, "You and me can't hardly be decent together if what happened back there" -- he jerked his head in the direction of the apartment -- "grabs on us like that. We do that in the wrong place we'll be dead. There's no reins on this one. It scares the piss out a me."

Offline kirkmusic

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #22 on: May 08, 2006, 02:00:02 am »
You ask me, once every two weeks is nothing.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #23 on: May 08, 2006, 02:04:49 am »
You ask me, once every two weeks is nothing.

When you put it that way -- you're right!!!!

Offline alec716

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #24 on: June 12, 2006, 10:34:25 pm »
In my rural minded opinion and having lived around folks who used the expression "wrang it out" occasionally in conversation, the word has to do considering the answer to something and not figuring it out or trying to figure something out by thinking really hard, like continually putting a piece of wet laundry through a wringer attached to wash tub or a washing machine to get it as dry as possible so that it would only have to hang on the clothes line for a short time.

Wow, do I feel like an urbanized pervert.   :)   I also assumed that the "wrang it out" phrase referred to Ennis, shall we say, reliving fond memories of Jack on the mountain -- especially since Annie uses this phrase along with the reference to Jack "riding more than bulls."  Maybe Ennis was just thinking about whether he should or how he could contact Jack...  can I have half a loaf and decide that he was using the phrase in both meanings?  ;)

Which reminds me ... in the motel, when Ennis says he almost gave up on hearing from Jack again, did anyone else want to scream to Ennis, "How many Twist families could there be in Lightening Flat, why didn't you contact his parents to find out where he was?"  I guess Ennis was too scared to take responsibility for tracking Jack down.
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Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #25 on: June 12, 2006, 10:37:22 pm »
I think most of us agree on what we think "wrang it out" means. And, it's what U think!
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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #26 on: June 12, 2006, 10:42:38 pm »
I think most of us agree on what we think "wrang it out" means. And, it's what U think!

Agreed, Front-Ranger.

At the same time, this could well be another marvelous example of Annie Proulx deliberately using language with more than one meaning for its suggestiveness. Another example in the same scene would be the remark that Jack was riding more than bulls and not rolling his own.
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline serious crayons

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #27 on: June 13, 2006, 01:36:10 am »
Not to mention "stemming the rose" and whatever other phrases that TJ helpfully reminded us have mundane meanings. Just goes to show Annie Proulx is clever and witty with language, I think.

So Alec, don't feel like an urbanized pervert -- or, at least, not on the basis of this line reading!  ;)  I think a lot of people interpreted it the same way.

As for Ennis looking up the Twists, I think you're right, Ennis would never have been bold enough to make that move.



Offline Front-Ranger

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #28 on: June 13, 2006, 04:00:13 pm »
Now that U mention it, "wrang it out" would fit nicely in with the laundry theme that I've been meaning to add to my buckets, eagles, and etc. post, unless someone would like to tackle it here.
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline southendmd

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Re: "A hundert times" in four years?
« Reply #29 on: June 20, 2011, 10:24:58 pm »
Gotta bump this one, just for entertainment value!