View Single Post
Old 07-11-2012, 02:03 PM   #7
Janet Rosen
 
Janet Rosen's Avatar
Location: Left Coast
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 4,339
Offline
Re: Doka with Pine, Bamboo, Plum, Water, Fire

Quote:
Phi Truong wrote: View Post
because it sounded cool? sort of "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" kind of thing. i have used bamboo and pine as firewood to boil water before.
No, Phi. It's another example of misplaced punctuation messing with the sentence structure.
Plumb and pine are both intended to be read as third person verb forms.
"Plumb bamboo and pine" is clearly a reference to the fact that bamboo, being a hollow solid, can be cut and arranged as piping for latrines; however, being not ideally suited for the task, the user will end up pining for proper indoor facilities.
Worthy advice indeed and the tie-in is obvious in that water is freely available; however fire to provide hot running water is another level altogether.

Janet Rosen
http://www.zanshinart.com
"peace will enter when hate is gone"--percy mayfield
  Reply With Quote