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Meaning of "must render you catatonic"? Whats the meaning of "must render you catatonic" in this quote? Raj: I don't like bugs, okay? They freak me out. Sheldon: Interesting. You're afraid of insects and women. Ladybugs must render you catatonic.
May 29, 2014 10:37 PM
Answers · 3
1
Ha ha, yeah, classic Sheldon, trying to make a joke even though he doesn't really get them! Catatonia is a form of schizophrenia where a patient is unresponsive, just seems frozen, with a blank stare. It's not a classic coma where you lay in bed asleep. You know how Raj reacts to women, just goes speechless? Sheldon is saying that ladybugs must do the same to him, that they turn him catatonic.
May 30, 2014
1
"...must send you into a coma."
May 29, 2014
You could substitute 'make' for 'render' here. 'Render' in this sense means more or less 'to cause to become'. A parallel expression which you often hear is: 'It rendered me speechless' = it was such a shock that it made me speechless. NB 'render' seems to be the word of the day here - another member asked about it early. But back to the 'joke' . My understanding is that if Raj is freaked out by bugs, and freaked out by women, then a 'ladybug' must be a 'double whammy' - a prospect so intimidating as to render him catatonic.
May 30, 2014
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