he became an addict

[alpacinou]

Are these good?

1. He became a heroin addict. He came from work to get high, injecting the nights away.

2. He became a cocaine addict. He came from work to get high, sniffing the afternoons away.

3. He became a pot addict. He came from work to get high, smoking the afternoons away.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Are these good?

1. He became a heroin addict. He came home from work to get high, injecting [or shooting] the nights away.

2. He became a cocaine addict. He came home from work to get high, snorting the afternoons away. [Sniffing sounds old-fashioned.]

3. He became a pothead. He came home from work to get high, smoking the afternoons away.

Yes, they are.

The changes I made make them much more natural.

 

[alpacinou]

What about this?

He became a heroin addict. He came home from work to get high, injecting the nights away until sleep took him.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Those last four words don't seem necessary. They're already implied.

 

[emsr2d2]

For me, "injecting the nights away" suggests that he did it all night and, therefore, didn't get any sleep!

 

[Tdol]

sniffing the afternoons away.

We use snort for powders like powdered drugs, and sniff for liquid ones like glue or poppers where people inhale the vapours.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

For me, "injecting the nights away" suggests that he did it all night and, therefore, didn't get any sleep!

Good point.

 

[Tdol]

Doesn't heroin make you sleep? Morphine is named after the Greek god of sleep.

 

[jutfrank]

Unlike 2 and 3, I don't think 1 works at all. You can't 'inject the night away' if what you're injecting is heroin. For a start, you'll only be injecting every four or five hours or so, in between long stretches of very sleep-like inactivity.

 

[Tdol]

Luckily, I can do long stretches of very sleep-like activity without help.

 

[Tarheel]

The phrase "snorting the night away" kind of sounds like fun. (I'm not going to try it.)

 

[alpacinou]

The phrase "snorting the night away" kind of sounds like fun. (I'm not going to try it.)

Yes. Discretion is advised. Don't try this at home.

 

[Tdol]

Or anywhere.

 

[alpacinou]

Learning English is my heroin. So I don't need to snort the nights away.

 

[Tdol]

But you may go to bed a little later. ;-)

 

[Tarheel]

I have to get my fix of UE every day.
And I always have something to say.

 

[Tdol]

But when it come to the hard stuff, I say nay

 

[Tarheel]

I'll answer every question, so bring it!
When it comes to the hard stuff I wing it.
;-)

 

[jutfrank]

It all happens so easily. You start off thinking "Well, it's just one little question about the present continuous. What harm can it do?" Next thing you know it's 4 a.m. and you're desperately trying to explain the upper-ontological modality of quasi-auxiliary verbs in depth-charge sentences. Slippery slope.

I blame Tdol.

 

[Tarheel]

That last sentence made my head spin.
;-)