Hi, Michael!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
    AK>  -----Beginning of the citation-----   
    AK>  The bus chugged westward. On both sides of the streets   
    AK>  were interesting buildings. The Cowboy's Retreat was a   
    AK>  log cabin fronted with flashing neon lights. The Emerald   
    AK>  Crown was a hotel shaped like a wedding cake with a carpet   
    AK>  that rolled down to the road like a green beach meeting   
    AK>  a tarmac sea.   
    AK>  ----- The end of the citation -----   
      
    AK>  What is a green beach, what is a tarmac sea, and how   
    AK>  can they meet?   
      
    AH>  The word "like" tells me the author is making a comparison   
    AH>  here... technically a simile.  I imagine the carpet as a   
    AH>  lawn, possibly made of fake grass, and the tarmac sea as a   
    AH>  paved road.  Apparently one part of this lawn ends at the   
    AH>  side of the road, i.e. the lawn & the road come into contact.   
      
    MD>  This is what I meant except I thought of not fake but real   
    MD>  grass.   
      
      
              I thought of real grass initially, because a well-kept lawn is often   
    described as a carpet in English.  But since there was no mention of a   
   sidewalk I began to wonder how the prospective bride would get to the front   
   door of this establishment without messing up her new shoes (or whatever).  I   
   am troubled by the idea that while other people's lawn parties are planned well   
    in advance the maintenance is too... yet hotels must be prepared to accept   
   guests at any time. In an environment where a lot of other things seem   
   contrived their guests might settle for fake grass which needn't be mowed,   
   fertilized, &/or watered....  :-)   
      
              If the hotel had substituted a bit of "indoor-outdoor" carpeting I'd   
    expect to see a comma after "cake".  I am much relieved because I've yet to   
   see a carpet under a wedding cake.  A table cloth would be more usual...   
   [chuckle].   
      
      
      
    AH>  In any case, the narrator is thinking of it as a beach   
    AH>  adjacent to the sea....  :-)   
      
    MD>  Exactly.   
      
      
              And it would appear to me that Bing did you an injustice.  I have no   
    idea how "adjacent" translates into Russian, but I see how in English the   
   exact interpretation may depend on the context.  IMHO we're on the same   
   page....  :-)   
      
      
      
    MD>  BTW I was named a bad boy here but I consider it a   
    MD>  compliment, since I was a boy very long ago. :)   
      
      
              In Aussie lingo, I think it probably is a compliment.  :-))   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)