Hi,
‘Ferguson rejected the offers out of hand, though, saying: “There was no way I could contemplate that. It wasn’t a bed of nails I was ever tempted to lie.”’
–The last sentence made me contemplate though: the offered job wasn’t unpleasant/difficult to him , so he rejected it without consideration?!
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It WAS an unpleasant prospect for him, so he rejected it.
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Yes, he acted like it WAS for him, but he sounded otherwise (for me).
Would you consider the construction with “I was ever tempted” a bit closer?
I don’t understand what you’re getting at, sorry.
It was an unpleasant offer in his view. Therefore he rejected it without considering accepting it.
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Sorry for my being backward, Bev. I accepted it like: 1) It wasn’t a bed of nails (= that order wasn’t unpleasant). 2) I was ever tempted to lie (= I’d like to be involved). Combining (1) and (2), results in: “It wasn’t unpleasant for me, so I never wanted the job.”
I assume SAF has every right to put things oblivious of any struggling guy, still I would be happier with: “It was a bed of nails I was never tempted to lie.”
Perhaps he won’t lay into me for that…
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***** NOT A TEACHER *****
Good morning, Eugene:
Did you accidently forget the “on” after “lie”?
It wasn’t a bed on which I was ever tempted to lie.
It wasn’t a bed which I was ever tempted to lie on.
It wasn’t a bed I was ever tempted to lie on.
James
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Morning, James.
It was a quotation from a book, out just yesterday, (in whose editing I wasn’t involved). The person cited, I believe have been best described by one of fans: “Alex Ferguson can do what he wishes - he’s his own man.”
You’ve split the sentence in the wrong way.
It wasn’t / a bed of nails I was ever tempted to lie in/on.
You cannot separate the second part there.
He was NOT tempted to lie in the bed of nails! That WOULD have been unpleasant.
The term is ‘to lie in/on’ not ‘to lie’
He did not want to lie in that bed = he did not want to consider the question at hand.
Therefore your sentence
It was a bed of nails I was never tempted to lie in =
It wasn’t a bed of nails I was ever tempted to lie in.
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But James, is the following sentence (being used by my American friends) correct?
He doesn’t have a simple, decent house to live.
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***** NOT A TEACHER *****
Hello, Anglophile:
Just as I would say that one lies ON a bed of nails, so would I say that “He doesn’t have a decent house to live IN.”
If your American friends do not use “in,” I – of course – am in no position to say that they are wrong.
James
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Thanks to Bev and James, I finally got what had confused me. Unlike yesterday’s quotation, possibly distorted by journalists hastily trying to present the book’s titbits from the press conference, today’s online version (edited) ends in ‘on’, as James suggested.
No ‘on’ made me spent some time deciphering which ‘to lie’ was meant (at first it was like ‘to tell a lie’ to me, I confess.)
The silver lining, I seem to have the ‘bed of nails’
engraved in my memory from now on.
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Dear @James_M, where are you?
It’s been very long since I saw you.
I hope you are healthy despite the pandemic onslaught.
Stay safe!
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