paltry, hassle, mean, fatuous.Days like today, she said, made her never want to leave the city. “It does make you feel better,” she said. “Being with people, but also just walking.”

Ramblers like to end their walks with some form of celebration. On that particular day, the Metropolitan Walkers clinked foamy pints at The Boston Arms pub; the London Strollers clapped and cheered as they ended their route by the Thames. Julia Cooke, 70, edged closer to the river, what she called London’s “best asset.” Days like today, she said, made her never want to leave the city. “It does make you feel better,” she said. “Being with people, but also just walking.” Boris Johnson’s balancing act: The prime minister is risking a rift with President Trump ahead of negotiating a new trade deal with the U.S., but the potential of 5G makes the gains from a deal look paltry.

SingTel's Wobbly Premise

Singapore Telecom is grappling with paltry growth prospects and currency volatility, and watching as the recent stock market rally has left it in the dust.

They have been offered only paltry compensation, and the plan is to relocate them to the city’s outskirts with no amenities or obvious way of making a living.



"Chandler's fatuous tribute-"Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid ... "
這兩mean 不是都為"卑劣"

廟街故事（天下浪子）(Mean Street Story). 導演:劉偉強. 演員:鄭伊健、吳倩蓮、 葛民輝、朱咪咪、劉曉彤、黃光亮、王書麒、羅莽. 上映日期:1995年05月06日 ...

Plot

Andrew Lau Wai-keung spins this unlikely tale of crime and star-crossed love. While hanging out in the Mainland Chinese border town of Shenzhen, street tough Melvin (Dior Cheng Yee-kin) gets into a tussle over a lass named Sue (Jacqueline Wu Chien-lien) whom he just met. After serving time in the big house, he returns home to discover his mother (Mimi Chu Mi-mi) is turning tricks and his father is a drunken weasel. Sue, however, is a successful radio personally. Feeling responsible for Melvin's troubles, she manages to get him a job at her father's company. When the two fall in love, Sue's dad plots to have him framed for fraud. When Melvin is confronted, he learns that he must either dump Sue or cough up 400 thousand dollars in 24 hours to avoid another trip to the clink. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

The journey was surprisingly hassle-free.

A man's home is his hassle.



hassle
n.

1. An argument or a fight.
2. Trouble; bother.

v., -sled, -sling, -sles. v.intr.
To argue or fight: customers hassling with merchants over high prices.
v.tr.
To bother or harass: street gangs hassling passersby.

[Origin unknown.]

WORD HISTORY It is difficult to believe that there were no hassles before 1945, the year in which the noun hassle is first recorded in English. The origins of this word might be considered a hassle for the etymologist.

An English dialect word, hassle, meaning “to hack at, cut with a blunt knife and with a sawing motion,” is recorded at the end of the 19th century.

A Southern dialect word, hassle, “to pant, breathe heavily,” is also a possible source. A more popular notion has been that hassle is a blend, but here again we have a hassle. Three separate possibilities have been proposed, a combination of harass and hustle, haggle and tussle, and haggle and wrestle. Given all these possibilities, it is clear why words such as hassle end up with the etymology “origin unknown.”

mean (VIOLENT)
adjective MAINLY US
frightening and likely to become violent:
a mean and angry mob
a mean-looking youthmean (NOT GENEROUS) Show phonetics
adjective MAINLY UK
not willing to give or share things, especially money:
He's too mean to buy her a ring.
My landlord's very mean with the heating - it's only on for two hours each day.mean² (mēn)
adj., mean·er, mean·est.

1. 1. Selfish in a petty way; unkind.
   2. Cruel, spiteful, or malicious.
2. Ignoble; base: a mean motive.
3. Miserly; stingy.
4. 1. Low in quality or grade; inferior.
   2. Low in value or amount; paltry: paid no mean amount for the new shoes.
5. Common or poor in appearance; shabby: “The rowhouses had been darkened by the rain and looked meaner and grimmer than ever” (Anne Tyler).
6. Low in social status; of humble origins.
7. Humiliated or ashamed.
8. In poor physical condition; sick or debilitated.
9. Extremely unpleasant or disagreeable: The meanest storm in years.
10. Informal. Ill-tempered.
11. Slang.
    1. Hard to cope with; difficult or troublesome: He throws a mean fast ball.
    2. Excellent; skillful: She plays a mean game of bridge.

[Middle English, from Old English gemǣne, common.]

paltry 
adjective
1 (of a sum of money) very small and of little or no value:
Student grants these days are paltry, and many students have to take out loans.
The company offered Jeremy a paltry sum which he refused.

2 low in quality:
She made some paltry excuse and left.


fatuous 
adjective FORMAL
stupid, not correct, or not carefully thought about:
a fatuous idea/remark