In 1900, a father gave a pencil box for Christmas, and the kid was all smiles.
Today, a father spends $800 at Toys ‘R’ Us, and the kid screams: “I wanted Sega!”
=> I’ve heard:
spend time doing sth
spend time on doing sth
spend money on sth
but I’ve never heard “spend money at sth”, so I guess this “Toys ‘R’ Us” must be a place (shop), mustn’t it?
In 1900, a Father’s Day gift would be a hand tool.
Today, he’ll get a digital organizer.
=> What is a ‘digital organiser’?
In 1900, fathers said, “A man’s home is his castle.”
Today, they say, “Welcome to the money pit.”
=> What is a ‘money pit’?
By the way, these sentences are cited from a series of jokes named “Father then and now”. Do you think it’s a suitable name? (I’ve never heard of ‘then and now’, just ‘now and then’
“Toys ‘R’ Us” is a globally operating toy store chain. It is the second largest toy store chain in the United States (Wal-Mart being the largest). Obviously, he couldn’t have bought “Toys ‘R’ Us” for $800 so “spend on” cannot be used here. “At” is a good choice since “Toys ‘R’ Us” is a place.
Atomos answered your question perfectly. What exactly is that you don’t understand? By the Atomos, welcome to english-test.net and many thanks for your great support.
Regards,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
A ‘digital organizer’ would be something such as a Palm Pilot.
A ‘pit’ is a large, deep hole. Calling a house a ‘money pit’ means that the person is viewing the house as something into which a lot of money must constantly be “dumped” (i.e. there are never-ending costs).
Saying ‘then and now’ means ‘in the past and now’.
Saying ‘now and then’ usually means ‘occasionally’.
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Thanks a lot for the picture, Amy, but I’m afraid I still can’t get it very well what a ‘digital organiser’ is (and this time I won’t blame myself for being too dumb just lack of technological knowledge)
Hi Torsten, I’m afraid I can’t understand why you asked me this. Yes, Atomos gave the perfect answer for “Toy ‘R’ Us”, but not other queries, which was why I continued asking (I typed ‘How about the others?’, not ‘I don’t understand’)
Very basically, a digital organiser is a digital appointment book (diary) which has a number of other functions. You might also call one of these a PDA: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant
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just lack of technological knowledge)