Hi, Anton! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:
A total of xxx kilograms in a year is not difficult to
achieve... for young & able-bodied folk. At 629 grams
per mug of home made tea or coffee, I'd pass this test
with flying colours even if I did nothing beyond feeding
myself.
I think Alexander's joke is not what you think it is. I
perceive it based upon the difference between the perfect
and imperfect aspects of the verb `to lift', which is more
prominent in Russian than in English.
I suspected the use of these tenses might be different in Russian... but my understanding of Russian is very limited & he told the joke in English, where an abverb or some equivalent thereof may be used in lieu of changing the verb tense from the simple past to the past imperfect.
As a university student I often carried a heavy briecase on weekdays ... while as a waitress I was often required to carry a tray loaded with dirty dishes &/or fetch large containers from a store room on other days. This went on for some time, and I could have used the past imperfect tense. I chose not to because IMHO the adverb "often" makes the meaning clear in such cases. But Alexander's wording leaves the time frame more open to question. Because he's telling a joke, I imagine this is probably the effect he wanted.
Charles M. Schulz used a similar strategy in a 1989 PEANUTS cartoon:
Linus: I hear your grandfather has taken up golf.
Charlie: He's been playing for about a year..
Lucy: That's a long time to be out on the course..
It is the same difference as the one between walking on
a road and traveling the entire length of it, or doing
something and having done it.
As I was walking along Main Street years ago, I noticed [blah blah]. The action had not yet been completed because I was en route to the equivalent of today's dollar store... and I can assure you I've yet to traverse the whole length of Vancouver's Main Street on foot. I still walk down this street from time to time because, while I no longer live there, I know where to shop. :-)
629 grams of coffee? You strange Americans!
1) I'm Canadian, actually, but I realize that to many folks from the other side of the pond everything in the western hemisphere is "American". :-Q
2) I didn't specify the weight of the coffee. I specified "a mug of home made coffee" because I wanted you to understand that I wasn't referring to a flimsy plastic or paper cup. The example I chose weighs 370 grams when it is empty, and 629 grams when it's filled with tap water. I suppose it might weigh a bit more when filled with coffee & whatever a person might prefer to add. My point was that such items often weigh more than we consciously realize.... :-)
140 grams is my daily portion.
In wet or dry measurements? If you mean the former, that's about the same amount I usually drink in a day... but (as with my briefcase) I don't lift it & put it down just once. The preparation alone involves a bit of lifting... I take my time over anything containing alcohol or caffeine... and on occasions when I have a second cup within 24 hours I'll drink a smaller amount.
As a teacher I worked with someone from the Netherlands who obviously preferred stronger coffee. When it was her turn to make coffee, I would dilute it 50/50 with boiling water before drinking it. I've heard the same applies in other European countries but don't know what the average Russian would do. :-)
I buy freshly roasted coffee beens, grind them myself
immediately before brewing, and make my coffee in an
electronically-contolled jezwe.
My mother used a coffee percolator, which works with a campfire or an oil/wood/electric/gas stove or whatever other source of heat is available. I'm not sure what a "jezwe" is. But nowadays I generally prefer the Melitta filter system, which requires little of me except to add a cup of boiling water to the pre-ground beans & wait 60 seconds when I'm making coffee just for myself. :-)
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
* Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)