It takes all kinds???

1 2
   Share on Facebook  
JCDenton  #551616  Wed, 06 Aug 08 02:45 PM
Hi guys,

Can you please explain me this phrase?  I heard it in this context: Two FBI agents are talking about the woman who is missing two days. They found out that she disappeared, whe she left her job as a striper. One of that agent wanted to know, if her husband knew about her job...

A: Anything on the husband?

B: Well, he told NYPD that he didn't have a problem with her stripping.

A: And they believed that? 

B: It takes all kinds.   ...???? SurpriseSad   (Please guys, I'm out here...)

 

Many thanks in advance for clarification.

 

Best Regards

JCD

 

 


 

 

  
Top 150 Contributor
Joined on Tue, Jul 3 2007
Europe
Regular Member (543)
Trusted Users
Grammar Geek  #551627  Wed, 06 Aug 08 03:02 PM

It takes many kinds of people to make the world complete.

The implication is that some people would object to their wife stripping, and that's perhaps the expected reaction, but there are some people who would not. The kind who would not is just "one of the kinds of people" on this planet.

  
Top 10 Contributor
Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006
Pennsylvania, USA
Veteran Member (16,089)
ModeratorProficient Speaker
Barbara, who answers in American English.
Avangi  #551630  Wed, 06 Aug 08 03:06 PM
It's the short form of "it takes all kinds of people to make a world."  I guess the idea is like Noah's ark  -    you need a representative of every type  -   even the strangest and weirdest and most obnoxious etc.

The expression is used so often that nobody bothers to say the complete version.

  - A.
  
Top 25 Contributor
Joined on Mon, Nov 19 2007
Senior Member (3,789)
Proficient SpeakerTrusted Users
". . . le plaisir delicieux et toujours nouveau d'une occupation inutile." - Henri de Regnier
JCDenton  #551637  Wed, 06 Aug 08 03:19 PM

Guys, many thanks to both of you for your answer!!! Anyway, I still don't get it...SadSad. ..Does "it takes all kinds" mean here....."And why they shouldn't trust him? On this planet you can find a lot of husbands who don't have a problem with his wife doing this job...." Is that correct?...

Thanks again

Best Regards

 

 

  
Grammar Geek  #551667  Wed, 06 Aug 08 04:25 PM

Most people would assume that a husband would OBJECT to his wife being a stripper. They would assume that this man is one of the majority of men who would not like it.

Therefore, if the husband says that it's no problem, their first instinct would be to doubt him, to think that he is lying.

However, if you accept that there are many types of people on the planet - those who DO object to their wife being a stripper being the majority, but a few who don't object at all sprinkled in, then maybe he wasn't lying.

There is no assumption at all that there are "a lot" who feel that way - to the contrary, there is the assumption that there are very few - but those few are one of the "all types of people" that make the world complete.

Okay, another example. I love chocolate. I assume everyone loves chocolate. I offer you chocolate. You say you don't care for it. I am stunned, I think you are lying, I think you are rejecting my offer of friendship that was given in the form of offering you this chocolate. Then I stop and think "Well, maybe there are one or two people on the face of this planet who don't like chocolate. After all, it takes all types to make the world complete. Weirdo."

 

  
JCDenton  #551674  Wed, 06 Aug 08 04:45 PM
GG thx for the explanation!! Your example with that chocolate helped me a lot...Yes.I think I got the idea.

Best Regards

 

 

 

 

  
Philip  #551686  Wed, 06 Aug 08 05:00 PM
JCDenton
GG thx for the explanation!! Your example with that chocolate helped me a lot...Yes.I think I got the idea.

Best Regards




It is, after all, one of the basic food groups.
  
Top 25 Contributor
Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005
USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)
Veteran Member (6,328)
ModeratorProficient Speaker
At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen
Philip  #551687  Wed, 06 Aug 08 05:02 PM
I can't remember where I heard it:  It doesn't take all kinds -- there are all kinds.
  
Avangi  #551705  Wed, 06 Aug 08 05:33 PM
Philip
I can't remember where I heard it: It doesn't take all kinds -- there are all kinds.
Hi Philip.  I'm not sure I follow your meaning.  Are you saying that you usually hear it as the pink version, or that you usually hear it with are instead of takes?

In my experience, A says it to B to express disdain for C,  -   sometimes directly to C.

Best wishes,  - A.

Jack, I think you have it right.  One FBI agent told the other that, yes, he believed the husband, because there are such people who would not have a problem with it (regardless of the FBI agent's opinion of the husband's marital attitudes).
  
1 2
AddThis Feed Button RSS Feed: ESL Vocabulary and Idioms
© 2008 MediaCET Ltd.
Terms and Conditions & Terms of Service