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in the center of things

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Cadzao

#288322 Wed, 01 Nov 06 04:58 PM

"The fact is, most people do not want a grat deal of anything, nor have they fancy standards. A clean house, with room for family life, and privacy, a bit of ground for the children, or adequate community playgrounds; a good school; a steady job that will feed, house, clothe, and doctor the family; the neighbourhood movie, bowling alley, saloon; and the libraries, museums, theaters, or what not somewhere in the center of things."

Please tell me what "what not somewhere in the center of things" means?

Thank you.

Cadzao

Cadzao

Joined on Wed, Sep 6 2006

Saigon Vietnam

Full Member (303)

Grammar Geek

#288337 Wed, 01 Nov 06 05:40 PM

You need to separate the "what not" from your phrase in blue and add it to the list of local attractions: libraries, museums, theaters, or what not.

It means "or other similar things that I haven't named but belong in the category."

Then, "somewhere in the center of things" simply means in a central location.

(P.S. - Does it really refer to "saloons"? That sounds like something out of an old western movie. Absolutely no one I know uses this word except in reference to the Old West, with gold miners and gunslingers. We do have the neighborhood bar (here, and probably the neighborhood pub in the U.K.).

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,592)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Cadzao

#288339 Wed, 01 Nov 06 05:50 PM

Yes, it does, I think.

The passage is taken from The City is the People (1941) by Henry S. Churchill, a famous Amerian architect, born in Chicago in 1893. By the way, what do you think about the title "The City is the People"? What does it mean?

Thank you very very much, Grammar Greek, for your help.

Cadzao

Grammar

Grammar Geek

#288345 Wed, 01 Nov 06 06:10 PM

I think it means that a city's "personality" is derived from the peope who live there. No people = no city, even if there are buildings and green space and well laid-out roads.

The lay-out of a city can influence how people interact - whether they create neighborhoods and develop a common ethos. A city that requires everyone to get into their cars to do the shopping, visit the park, get to work, etc. will have a different nature than one that has a park that the neighborhood children play in (and therefore neighborhood parents meet and talk) and a coffee shop that promotes social interaction, etc.

Does that make sense?