2016年3月27日 星期日

parvenu, nouveau riche, upstart, brass knuckles, vulgarian

Roman virtue, Roman rules, and Roman decline have always been an American obsession. Now, we are witnessing the ascent of a figure right out of Petronius: an orange-colored vulgarian of meretricious display.
Two forces eerily contemporary have traditionally been thought to bring down ancient republics: the oligarch and the demagogue.
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Olivia Pope, the tough crisis manager at the center of the ABC series “Scandal,” "is appealingly relentless and brass-knuckled compared to President Obama," writes Op-Ed columnist Maureen Dowd. "Her mantras are, after all, 'It’s handled,' and 'I’m never out of options.'”

Many people liken the era we're in to the early days of computing, where upstart hobbyists in their garages came up with huge advances that changed the industry. (See "Build a Better Mousetrap—Fast."


Glimpsing the human side of major historical figures is endlessly fascinating. As Melville noted, Shakespeare in his own day wasn’t Shakespeare. He was Master William Shakespeare, the harried writer — mocked as an “upstart crow” by a critic — who churned out plays for the proprietors of the Globe Theater.



Although some major projects, including two new casino resorts, are still going ahead here, construction is stalling a host of others. Home prices have fallen by as much as 30 percent in some areas as the nouveau riche Russian and South Asian buyers cope with staggering losses at home; office rents plunged 14 percent in the last three months of 2008 in the steepest fall in Asia.



nouveau riche 
adjective DISAPPROVING
describes people from a low social class who have recently become very rich and like to show their wealth publicly by spending a lot of money

the nouveau riche 
plural noun
The restaurant is popular with the city's nouveau riche.



parvenu

女性 parvenue
noun [C] FORMAL DISAPPROVING
someone from a low social position who has suddenly become rich or successful p.545
...and new brass instruments evolved out of imperfect but desirable
old ones -- the tuba out of ophicleide, itself a parvenu 'serpent.'

又碰到一法文
par・ve・nu
[F.] n. 成上り者.

parvenu(e) adj m(f)(f) upstart

(from Dictionnaire Cambridge Klett Compact)


upstart
noun [C] DISAPPROVING
a person, especially a young one, who has suddenly got power or an
important position and takes advantage of this in an unpleasant way

暴發戶
傲慢自負的人

upstart
  1. someone who has gained sudden wealth, power or influence, but has either not gained social acceptance or has become arrogant or presumptuous

[edit] Synonyms



前幾天看serpentine 等,想起倫敦海德公園的湖;Henry Moore 在Serpentine
Gallery戶外的展覽。今天碰到樂器serpent
,查Thomas Hardy『還鄉』(Return of the
Native),北京:人民出版社)……據說近乎絕跡……

━━ n. ヘビ; 陰険な人; 【天文】(S-) へび座 (Ser・pens ).
(Old) Serpent 【聖】(the ~) 悪魔; 誘惑者.

樂器
tuba 前身
蛇形大號 木製/銅等Modern serpents are often made of PVC pipe by joining
different sizes of pipes together, each one being heat tapered, using
a propane torch especially designed for bending and shaping PVC pipe.






暴發戶;機會主義者
暴發戶
【古】暴發戶
新富,暴發戶
新富,暴發戶
【法】暴發戶
暴發戶;新貴
暴發戶
俗人;俗不可耐的暴發戶
vulgarian
vʌlˈɡɛːrɪən/
noun
  1. an unrefined person, especially one with newly acquired power or wealth.
    "he is a jumped-up vulgarian"

brass knuckles

Syllabification: (brass knuck·les)
Translate brass knuckles | into Spanish

noun

a metal guard worn over the knuckles in fighting, especially to increase the effect of the blows.

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