Construction Alert

I'm reading Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine* -- the Douglas Adams book even some Hitchhiker's Guide fans don't know about -- and I came across a sentence construction I really liked. Or rather, a verb usage. Adams writes about an Indonesian travel agent:

"He then soothed at us a great deal..."

I really like the idea that you can soothe at someone. The "at" implies that it's unsuccessful -- no soothing was actually done. An attempted soothe.

The book itself is entertaining so far. Without the goofy science fiction plot, Douglas Adams's writing style is remarkably similar to Bill Bryson's.

Rob

*Hey Tom! I'm finally reading it! Maybe one day you'll get it back!