much less sharp intakes of breath than Penrose

English translation: she was much less shocked than Penrose

09:25 Jul 1, 2004

English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Art/Literary - Cinema, Film, TV, Drama

English term or phrase: much less sharp intakes of breath than Penrose

Michael Parkinson
Now what a, what about your daughter, what did she make of all this? [Anne’s facelift]
Anne Robinson
Well she is very supportive, I mean she, she thought it was a great idea, she is kind of sort of anything goes; she was much less sharp intakes of breath than Penrose, but then we have just had this sort of rite of passage where we have had this holiday, this filmed jaunt in America.

lim0nka KudoZ activity Questions: 1591 (5 open) (1 without valid answers) (13 closed without grading) Answers: 3319 United Kingdom
Local time: 23:38

Selected answer:she was much less shocked than Penrose

Explanation:
Penrose is Anne Robinson's husband. It's clear from the rest of the paragraph that her daughter is easy going and accepting of change; therefore she wasn't shocked by the change. 'sharp intake of breath' here I believe refers to a shocked reaction by someone (and possibly a reaction that they are trying to hide ;-)).

I don't think it's about her making Anne Robinson breathe sharply - this is just a typical spoken construction 'she is/was + phrase', indicating what that person did.

Selected response from:

Lucy Phillips
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:38

Grading comment

Thank you very much.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

4 +11

she was much less shocked than Penrose

Lucy Phillips

4 +3

she didn't worry us as much as Penrose

Melanie Nassar

Answers

6 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

much less sharp intakes of breath than penrose she didn't worry us as much as Penrose

Explanation:
When a person is afraid, or startled, he might have a sharp intake of breath. Penrose (the son???)apparently gave Anne more reason for sharp intakes of breath.

Melanie Nassar
United States
Local time: 01:38
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12

21 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +11

much less sharp intakes of breath than penrose

she was much less shocked than Penrose

Lucy Phillips
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:38
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thank you very much.

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