These lines are in the movie Knives Out!

1) Why is grief the providence of youth?
2) This was a long walk to offering condolences for the loss of your son.

Source:
https://wisdomsummary.com/why-is-grief-the-providence-of-youth/

The source quotes all that is said in the scene.

Now, first of all, do you find '2' grammatical?
Do you find it natural?
I can understand it but it sounds very strange, if not incorrect.

And what do you think '1' means?
The source I linked to does offer and explanation, but I am not sure
it is correct. When I saw the scene, I thought I had misheard, and he
had said 'province' and not 'providence', but I replayed the scene and
he does say 'providence'.

Gratefully,
Navi

On Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 9:00:00 AM UTC-4, arthurvv vart wrote:

> These lines are in the movie Knives Out!
>
> 1) Why is grief the providence of youth?
> 2) This was a long walk to offering condolences for the loss of your son.
>
> Source:
> https://wisdomsummary.com/why-is-grief-the-providence-of-youth/
>
> The source quotes all that is said in the scene.
>
> Now, first of all, do you find '2' grammatical?
> Do you find it natural?
> I can understand it but it sounds very strange, if not incorrect.

Frequently, Stephen Colbert makes a joke by connecting seemingly
disparate current events (which is how the best political cartoons
work) that takes several sentences of preparation (background
information, call it) to a successful punch line. And then he mutters
as an aside, "Long way to get there. But it was worth it."

So, unless in the movie they actually walked several miles to
attend the funeral, that may be what they meant.

On Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 7:24:02 AM UTC-7, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> On Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 9:00:00 AM UTC-4, arthurvv vart wrote:
>
> > These lines are in the movie Knives Out!
> >
> > 1) Why is grief the providence of youth?
> > 2) This was a long walk to offering condolences for the loss of your son.

it may be better as
This was a long walk FOR offering condolences for the loss of your son.
but (as is) is ok too.

> >
> > Source:
> > https://wisdomsummary.com/why-is-grief-the-providence-of-youth/
> >
> > The source quotes all that is said in the scene.
> >
> > Now, first of all, do you find '2' grammatical?
> > Do you find it natural?
> > I can understand it but it sounds very strange, if not incorrect.

> Frequently, Stephen Colbert makes a joke by connecting seemingly
> disparate current events (which is how the best political cartoons
> work) that takes several sentences of preparation (background
> information, call it) to a successful punch line. And then he mutters
> as an aside, "Long way to get there. But it was worth it."
>
> So, unless in the movie they actually walked several miles to
> attend the funeral, that may be what they meant.

On Sun, 11 Sep 2022 07:24:00 -0700 (PDT), "Peter T. Daniels"
<grammatim@verizon.net> wrote:

>On Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 9:00:00 AM UTC-4, arthurvv vart wrote:
>
>> These lines are in the movie Knives Out!
>>
>> 1) Why is grief the providence of youth?
>> 2) This was a long walk to offering condolences for the loss of your son.
>>
>> Source:
>> https://wisdomsummary.com/why-is-grief-the-providence-of-youth/
>>
>> The source quotes all that is said in the scene.
>>
>> Now, first of all, do you find '2' grammatical?
>> Do you find it natural?
>> I can understand it but it sounds very strange, if not incorrect.
>
>Frequently, Stephen Colbert makes a joke by connecting seemingly
>disparate current events (which is how the best political cartoons
>work) that takes several sentences of preparation (background
>information, call it) to a successful punch line. And then he mutters
>as an aside, "Long way to get there. But it was worth it."
>
>So, unless in the movie they actually walked several miles to
>attend the funeral, that may be what they meant.

Why would he be confused over something so obvious? What difference
does grammatical correctness matter?

On Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 12:04:03 PM UTC-6, henh...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 7:24:02 AM UTC-7, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
> > On Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 9:00:00 AM UTC-4, arthurvv vart wrote:
> >
> > > These lines are in the movie Knives Out!
> > >
> > > 1) Why is grief the providence of youth?
> > > 2) This was a long walk to offering condolences for the loss of your son.

> it may be better as
> This was a long walk FOR offering condolences for the loss of your son.
> but (as is) is ok too.

I agree with your first point, but I'd say with "to" it has to be "to offer", not "to
offering".

--
Jerry Friedman

On Sun, 11 Sep 2022 11:04:00 -0700 (PDT), "henh...@gmail.com"
<henhanna@gmail.com> wrote:

>On Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 7:24:02 AM UTC-7, Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>> On Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 9:00:00 AM UTC-4, arthurvv vart wrote:
>>
>> > These lines are in the movie Knives Out!
>> >
>> > 1) Why is grief the providence of youth?
>> > 2) This was a long walk to offering condolences for the loss of your son.
>
>
>it may be better as
> This was a long walk FOR offering condolences for the loss of your son.
>but (as is) is ok too.

No, it is not OK. It can not be "to offerring." It needs to be
changed either to "for offerring" or "to offer."

On 9/11/2022 2:22 PM, Jerry Friedman wrote:
> henh...@gmail.com wrote:
>> Peter T. Daniels wrote:
>>> arthurvv vart wrote:

>>>> These lines are in the movie Knives Out!

>>>> 1) Why is grief the providence of youth? 2) This was a long
>>>> walk to offering condolences for the loss of your son.

>> it may be better as This was a long walk FOR offering condolences
>> for the loss of your son. but (as is) is ok too.

> I agree with your first point, but I'd say with "to" it has to be "to
> offer", not "to offering".

I agree, in terms of standard English, but I suppose the offender might
have had some parallel in mind to "a long walk to Tipperary". "Offering
condolences" as a destination, like.