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Guest
#27182 Tue, 06 Apr 04 06:28 PM
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Does rocking also mean falling apart? Is it right to say: "back door needs to be fixed. Everything's rocking". Please help.
Thanks
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rommie
#27223 Wed, 07 Apr 04 08:31 AM
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No, I don't believe so. Quite the reverse actually - if something "rocks" then it's really great!
Rommie
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Joined on
Mon, Jan 26 2004
Earth orbit
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Mike in Japan
#27237 Wed, 07 Apr 04 11:31 AM
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I disagree. In a context of things needing fixing 'rocking' could mean unstable.
It can as Rommie points out also mean "really great" or very active.
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Joined on
Tue, Aug 19 2003
Hazzard County, Japan
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I do like to be beside the seaside
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rommie
#27243 Wed, 07 Apr 04 01:05 PM
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Certainly "rocking" can mean "moving from side to side" - sometimes violently. However, there is no implication in the word "rocking" that anything needs fixing. In this context, a boat or ship will rock, as will a cradle, but neither need fixing because that's what they're supposed to do.
I have scanned my dictionary quite careful on this point, and cannot find ANY interpretation of "rocking" with the meaning "broken".
Perhaps you could argue that if something is not SUPPOSED to move from side to side, but is doing so anyway, then it must be broken, and, by implication, need fixing - but I think you could apply this argument to ANY verb describing motion, including, for example "rotating". (That is, if your back door is rotating, then there must be something wrong with it and it needs fixing). But, as I say, there is nothing inherent in "rocking" that means "broken".
Rommie
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Mike in Japan
#27249 Wed, 07 Apr 04 02:11 PM
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Thank you Rommie. I said " In a context of things needing fixing 'rocking' could mean unstable."
I didn't say it inherently meant broken, but thank you anyway.
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