Whine
| 15:49 Feb 22, 2024 |
|
| English language (monolingual) [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Fiction | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||
| SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 +6 | noise from the (electric arc) street lights |
| ||
| 4 +1 | humming or hissing |
|
| Discussion entries: 12 | |
|---|---|
Answers
2 hrs confidence: 
peer agreement (net): +6
peer agreement (net): +6| whine noise from the (electric arc) street lights Explanation: I found the story online and read it from the start to beyond this point. It's quite clear the "whine" is the noise of the street lights. They are mentioned several times at the start of the story The fire happens just after this so you could say the "whine" is figurative too; the Jimmy whining to be allowed stay out when it soon becomes clear that he almost dies in the fire as he is in bed, until rescued from the fire. https://www.vice.com/en/article/yp3gk5/a-century-ago-singing... -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2024-02-22 18:10:06 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- OOPS, It's not "Jimmy" who is whining but a kid called "Willie". Sorry. Forget about that then. However, it's certainly the street lights. "she did not know that the towering light at the corner was continuing its nightly whine". Maybe she thought the light had been switched off, or that it had gone quiet? ... From earlier in the story it's clear it is the street light "The shimmering blue of the electric arc-lamps was strong in the main street of the town." "the electric light still hung high," "high in the air, the blue-burning globes of the arc lamps caused the wonderful traceries of leaf shadows on the ground..." -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2024-02-22 18:15:05 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- the woman had to take a lamp as there was no electric light in the house Perhaps the street light hadn't been installed that long? https://jeffersonpatterson.wordpress.com/2021/08/10/moonligh... -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2024-02-22 18:16:16 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- story is from 1898 when these lamps were being installed -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs (2024-02-22 18:30:36 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2009/01/moonlight-towers-l... "...The US quickly became the leader of electric arc lighting. In 1884 there were already more than 90,000 arc lamps lighting the night sky in the US, and that number rose to 235,000 in 1890, when virtually every US city was using arc lighting, more than 400,000 in 1902 and almost 700,000 in 1907. But it was not just in numbers that the US outstripped Europe and Great Britain. Moonlight towers While European cities placed electric candles on posts, like we do today with street lights, the Americans had the idea of lighting entire cities and villages by means of a grid of towers that stood up to 300 feet (90 metres) tall. These structures, sometimes resembling oversized oil derricks, were equipped with 4 to 6 arc lights of 2,000 to 6,000 candle power each. Most of them burnt all night and all year (except at full moon) although some cities turned the lights off around midnight. |
| |
