Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
with some perspective on it, having moved out
English answer:
looking at things from a more objective viewpoint
Added to glossary by
Yvonne Gallagher
Feb 3, 2019 17:44
5 yrs ago
English term
21 books translated
Native in: Russian 
Works in: English to Russian, Russian to English, Spanish to Russian, and 1 more.
with some perspective on it, having moved out
English
Art/Literary
Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
Hello everyone,
From the book Thank You for Being Late by Thomas Friedman.
Let’s start at what for me is the beginning: How did all these Jews get out to the Minnesota prairie and then gather in this unlikely town called St. Louis Park, where the biggest industry was a creosote plant? Minnesota was not the most natural or obvious place for Jews to settle. Indeed, in the press kit for the Coen brothers’ movie A Serious Man, Ethan Coen observed to the website MinnPost.com on September 25, 2009, that “to us the [flat midwestern] landscape with Jews on it is funny, you know? Maybe this is part of why we put in that little story [set in a shtetl] at the beginning of the movie, to kind of frame it. You look at a shtetl, and you go, ‘Right—Jews in a shtetl.’ And then you look at the prairie in Minnesota and you kind of think—or we kind of think, ***with some perspective on it, having moved out***—‘What are we doing there?’ It just seems odd.” Joel Coen added: “Mel Brooks once had a song called ‘Jews in Space.’ I guess that’s sort of the idea.”
What does "with some perspective on it, having moved out"mean? I think moving out implieschanging the place of residence, but the phrase still makes no sense to me.
Thank you.
From the book Thank You for Being Late by Thomas Friedman.
Let’s start at what for me is the beginning: How did all these Jews get out to the Minnesota prairie and then gather in this unlikely town called St. Louis Park, where the biggest industry was a creosote plant? Minnesota was not the most natural or obvious place for Jews to settle. Indeed, in the press kit for the Coen brothers’ movie A Serious Man, Ethan Coen observed to the website MinnPost.com on September 25, 2009, that “to us the [flat midwestern] landscape with Jews on it is funny, you know? Maybe this is part of why we put in that little story [set in a shtetl] at the beginning of the movie, to kind of frame it. You look at a shtetl, and you go, ‘Right—Jews in a shtetl.’ And then you look at the prairie in Minnesota and you kind of think—or we kind of think, ***with some perspective on it, having moved out***—‘What are we doing there?’ It just seems odd.” Joel Coen added: “Mel Brooks once had a song called ‘Jews in Space.’ I guess that’s sort of the idea.”
What does "with some perspective on it, having moved out"mean? I think moving out implieschanging the place of residence, but the phrase still makes no sense to me.
Thank you.
Change log
Feb 4, 2019 21:09: Yvonne Gallagher Created KOG entry
Responses
+4
2 hrs
Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Ireland
Native in English
&
English
Works in field
Ireland
right word, right place. everytime
Native in: English (Variants: US, Canadian, Irish, UK) 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
84
Selected
looking at things from a more objective viewpoint
getting some perspective on something has the meaning of putting some distance (time and/or space) between you and the item being pondered so you can get an objective rather than subjective view
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Note added at 11 mins (2019-02-03 17:56:30 GMT)
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https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/science-choice/201...
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/get-perspective-on.2...
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Note added at 45 mins (2019-02-03 18:30:18 GMT)
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"Right—Jews in a shtetl" =quite normal, or to be expected in such a location
"...the prairie in Minnesota and you kind of think..." (with new perspective/looking at it from a different angle) "
..What are we doing there?’ It just seems odd"
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Note added at 1 hr (2019-02-03 19:27:50 GMT)
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They think it's quite "odd", like "Jews in space" now (in hindsight).
They are Jewish but with an art historian mother and economist father and grwing up in a mid-western suburb (of Mineapolis) they are not typical Orthodox Jews from a sthetl
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Note added at 1 hr (2019-02-03 19:35:56 GMT)
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"Minnesota was not the most natural or obvious place for Jews to settle"
"we kind of think....‘What are we doing there? the 2nd "we" I think could be Jews in general rather than the 1st "we"= the Coen brothers
The Coens are renowned for setting up slightly surreal situations in their movies but it turns out theor own home place was a bit surreal with lots of Jews living in a prairie town.
However, a sthetl in a prairie is definitely odd and a bit fantasy.
Joel Coen has said: "In regards to whether our background influences our film making ... who knows? We don't think about it ... There's no doubt that our Jewish heritage affects how we see things."
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Note added at 2 hrs (2019-02-03 19:54:41 GMT)
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MOVE OUT
This WAS their own hometown, a suburb of Minneapolis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Park,_Minnesota
"The city has a relatively high Jewish population, and is home to the Sabes Jewish Community Center and several synagogues including Beth El Synagogue and Kenesseth Israel Congregation. It is estimated that around 38% of Jews in the greater Minneapolis area live in Saint Louis Park.
Due, in part, to mass immigration from former-Soviet states, Saint Louis Park has a large Russian population around its Aquila area. The Russian language is the second most spoken language in the city after English, and the Hennepin County Library's St. Louis Park location has an extensive Russian language section.
So yes, after they moved OUT of their home place (they live in NYC) and from that different perspective, they realised how odd it was that all these Jews lived in a prairie town.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2019-02-03 20:09:26 GMT)
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I posted this simpler version as the other one was quite confusing!
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Note added at 1 day 3 hrs (2019-02-04 21:09:34 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad to have finally got there!
------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 mins (2019-02-03 17:56:30 GMT)
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https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/science-choice/201...
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/get-perspective-on.2...
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 45 mins (2019-02-03 18:30:18 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
"Right—Jews in a shtetl" =quite normal, or to be expected in such a location
"...the prairie in Minnesota and you kind of think..." (with new perspective/looking at it from a different angle) "
..What are we doing there?’ It just seems odd"
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2019-02-03 19:27:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
They think it's quite "odd", like "Jews in space" now (in hindsight).
They are Jewish but with an art historian mother and economist father and grwing up in a mid-western suburb (of Mineapolis) they are not typical Orthodox Jews from a sthetl
-------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2019-02-03 19:35:56 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
"Minnesota was not the most natural or obvious place for Jews to settle"
"we kind of think....‘What are we doing there? the 2nd "we" I think could be Jews in general rather than the 1st "we"= the Coen brothers
The Coens are renowned for setting up slightly surreal situations in their movies but it turns out theor own home place was a bit surreal with lots of Jews living in a prairie town.
However, a sthetl in a prairie is definitely odd and a bit fantasy.
Joel Coen has said: "In regards to whether our background influences our film making ... who knows? We don't think about it ... There's no doubt that our Jewish heritage affects how we see things."
-----------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2019-02-03 19:54:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
MOVE OUT
This WAS their own hometown, a suburb of Minneapolis.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Park,_Minnesota
"The city has a relatively high Jewish population, and is home to the Sabes Jewish Community Center and several synagogues including Beth El Synagogue and Kenesseth Israel Congregation. It is estimated that around 38% of Jews in the greater Minneapolis area live in Saint Louis Park.
Due, in part, to mass immigration from former-Soviet states, Saint Louis Park has a large Russian population around its Aquila area. The Russian language is the second most spoken language in the city after English, and the Hennepin County Library's St. Louis Park location has an extensive Russian language section.
So yes, after they moved OUT of their home place (they live in NYC) and from that different perspective, they realised how odd it was that all these Jews lived in a prairie town.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2019-02-03 20:09:26 GMT)
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I posted this simpler version as the other one was quite confusing!
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 3 hrs (2019-02-04 21:09:34 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad to have finally got there!
Note from asker:
| Thank you very much, Yvonne. |
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you, Yvonne."
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