单词 | 令人喜欢 |
释义 | 〔Scottish〕Scottish is the full, original form of the adjective. Scots is an old Scottish variant of the form; Scotch is an English contraction of Scottish that at one time also came into use in Scotland ( as in Burns's"O thou, my Muse! guid auld Scotch drink!” ) but subsequently fell into disfavor.To some extent these facts can serve as a guide in choosing among the many variant forms of related words,such asScot, Scotsman or Scotswoman, or Scotchman or Scotchwoman, for one of the people of Scotland; Scots, (the) Scotch, or, rarely, (the) Scottish for the people of Scotland; andScots, Scotch, or Scottish for the dialect of English spoken in Scotland. The forms based onScotch are English and disfavored in Scotland, while those involving the full formScottish tend to be more formal. In the interest of civility, forms involvingScotch are best avoided in reference to people. But there is no sure rule for referring to things,since the history of variation in the use of these words has also left many expressions in which the choice is fixed,such asScotch broth, Scotch whisky, Scottish rite, and Scots Guards. Scottish 是这个形容词最完整,最原始的形式。 Scots 是这种形式的一种古老的苏格兰英语变体; Scotch 是苏格兰语的一个英语缩写形式并且苏格兰人曾用过( 例如波恩斯写过“喔你,我的灵感!最古代的苏格兰饮料!” ), 但后来就不令人喜欢了。在某种意义上讲这些事实可以帮助我们在那些有联系的各种变体中选择,例如Scot, Scotsman 或者 Scotswoman, 或者 Scotchman 或者 Scotchwoman, 来指定一个苏格兰的人; Scots, (the)Scotch, 或者,很少见的 (the) Scottish 来指定一个苏格兰人; 以及Scots, Scotch, 或者 Scottish 来指示在苏格兰讲的英语方言, 以Scotch 为基础的形式是英语在苏格兰不受欢迎, 但是包括完整形式Scottish 的那些形式趋向于更正式。 考虑到礼数时,带Scotch 的形式在指人时会被尽量回避的。 不过并没有一个固定的规则来指示事物,因为由于在使用这些字时不同变体的历史已经使许多表述方式固定下来了,例如苏格兰浓汤,苏格兰威士忌,苏格兰仪式 和 苏格兰卫兵 〔expound〕The professor was expounding on a favorite topic.教授正在对一个令人喜欢的话题详加陈述〔toady〕A toady is not a pleasant individual,and the origin of the word makes being a toady even less pleasant.Toady is obviously derived from the word toad. The-y suffix can have diminutive force, and the earliest recorded sense (around 1690) oftoady (now obsolete), "a little or young toad,” illustrates this force. The sense we know has nothing to do with baby toadsbut rather with the practice of certain quacks or charlatans who claimed that they could cast out poison.Toads were thought to be poisonous,so these charlatans would have an attendant eat a toad or pretend to eat oneand then remove the poison from the attendant.Such an attendant is obviously a type of person who would do anything,and thustoadeater (first recorded 1629) was the perfect name for a flattering, fawning parasite. Toadeater and the verb derived from it, toadeat, influenced the sense of the noun and verb toad and the noun toady, so that both nouns could mean "sycophant"and the verbtoady could mean "to act like a toady to someone.” 拍马者并不是一个讨人喜欢的人,这个词的来源使做拍马者这种作法更加不令人喜欢。Toady 很显然是从 toad 这个词衍生而来。 后缀-y 可以有一种指小的效力, Toady 这个词最早有记载(1690年左右)的含义“一只小或幼年蟾蜍”(现已废弃)正说明了这种效力。 我们现在知道的含义与年幼的蟾蜍没有什么关系,而与某些宣称能够驱毒的冒牌医生或江湖郎中的某些做法有关。当时人们认为蟾蜍有毒,所以这些江湖朗中会叫一个手下人吃下一只蟾蜍或假装吃下一只蟾蜍,然后把毒物从他的手下人身体中驱除出去。很明显,这样一个帮手是一种什么事都会做的人,这样,用toadeater (最早记载于1629年)这个词来称呼奉承拍马的寄生者是再合适不过了。 Toadeater 和从它衍生而来的动词 toadeat 影响了作为名词或动词的 toad 和作为名词 toady 的含义, 于是二个名词都可以理解为“拍马者”的意思,而动词toady 有“在某人面前象一个拍马者一样行动”的意思 |
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