used bookstore, trade, clientele, welcome mat, pal around, egomania, make off, coop

In the age of Amazon, used bookstores are making an unlikely comeback

As the pendulum swings back to print, used bookstores are thriving, with…

WASHINGTONPOST.COM|由 MIKE ROSENWALD 上傳

President-elect Obama and I sat on a board together; we lived in the same diverse and yet close-knit community; we sometimes passed in the bookstore. We didn’t pal around, and I had nothing to do with his positions. I knew him as well as thousands of others did, and like millions of others, I wish I knew him better.


Obama Caught Palling Around With Google CEO Schmidt
Wired News - USABy Sarah Lai Stirland November 07, 2008 | 8:07:41 PMCategories: Election '08 It seems as if Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been President-elect Obama's ...



And there was some degree of anticipation over whether Mr. McCain would do so this time. He did, though only after a bit of prompting from Mr. Schieffer, who, in a question about the tone of the campaign directed at both men, asked Mr. McCain specifically, “Your running mate said he palled around with terrorists.”
A pal is a friend. To pal around with someone means to spend time with that person as a friend. In the past tense, you would have to spell it with a double-l, because the vowel is not a long a.

Now the context of the quoted material. John McCain (Republican) is running against Barack Obama (Democrat) for the presidency of the U.S.A. Their running mates, as vice-presidential candidates, are Sarah Palin (R) and Joseph Biden (D). In their only debate, Palin said to Biden that Obama palled around with terrorists, and she has repeated that in speeches ever since. That is what Bob Schieffer (moderator for the third presidential debate) was referring to.

The Turkmen are grappling with change -- as well as the lack of it -- in this former Soviet republic where an egomaniacal dictator ruled with an iron fist for 21 years.

In England at around the time of Edward the Confessor people started to call themselves after the sort of work they did. If you made bread you were Mr Baker; if you made things from wood you took the name Mr Carpenter; if you made barrels you were called Mr Cooper.

I was reminded of this fine tradition last week by the story of Bernie Madoff (pronounced Made-off). If one's occupation involves making off with $50bn of investors' money, then it is quite proper that one's name should reflect that.

Ban on Spring Breakers? Not This Year.

By MICHELLE HIGGINS
After years of shunning the college crowd in favor of a more affluent, tamer clientele, hotels and resort destinations are rolling out the welcome mat.

On 9/11, Obama-McCain (Briefly) Unite

By Michael Duffy After days of trading insults, the candidates make two joint appearances. Will the suspension of hostilities last?

welcome mat noun [C]
a small piece of strong material with 'Welcome' written on it which is put on the floor by the door to greet people as they come in:
FIGURATIVE A new immigration law means the US will be dusting off the welcome mat for (= will be ready to welcome) famous people who want to live in the country.
FIGURATIVE We had better put the welcome mat out (= be ready to welcome), if your mother is coming to visit.

client (CUSTOMER) noun [C]
a customer or someone who receives services:
Mr Black has been a client of this firm for many years.
We always aim to give our clients personal attention.

clientele
group noun [S]
all the customers of a business when they are considered as a group:
The nightclub has a very fashionable clientele.


trade
n.

1. The business of buying and selling commodities; commerce. See synonyms at business.
2. The people working in or associated with a business or industry: a textile-exporting publication for the trade.
3. The customers of a specified business or industry; clientele.
4. The act or an instance of buying or selling; transaction.
5. An exchange of one thing for another.
6. An occupation, especially one requiring skilled labor; craft: the building trades, including carpentry, masonry, plumbing, and electrical installation.
7. The trade winds. Often used in the plural with the.

v., trad·ed, trad·ing, trades. v.intr.

1. To engage in buying and selling for profit.
2. To make an exchange of one thing for another.
3. To be offered for sale: Stocks traded at lower prices this morning.
4. To shop or buy regularly: trades at the local supermarket.

v.tr.

1. To give in exchange for something else: trade farm products for manufactured goods; will trade my ticket for yours.
2. To buy and sell (stock, for example).
3. To pass back and forth: We traded jokes.

adj.

1. Of or relating to trade or commerce.
2. Relating to, used by, or serving a particular trade: a trade magazine.
3. Of or relating to books that are primarily published to be sold commercially, as in bookstores.

phrasal verbs:
trade down

1. To trade something in for something else of lower value or price: bought a new, smaller car, trading the old one down for economy.

trade in

1. To surrender or sell (an old or used item), using the proceeds as partial payment on a new purchase.

trade on

1. To put to calculated and often unscrupulous advantage; exploit: children of celebrities who trade on their family names.

trade up

1. To trade something in for something else of greater value or price: The value of our house soared, enabling us to trade up to a larger place.

[Middle English, course, from Middle Low German.]

tradable trad'a·ble or trade'a·ble adj.

FT专栏作家凯拉韦：马多夫骗局使我注意到“人如其名”现象。Madoff音同Made-off，意即“卷款潜逃”，这个名字不是挺适合他吗？我发现，不良商人都有“贴切”的名字。

coop 

noun [C]

a cage where small animals are kept, especially chickens

cooped up 

adjective

If you are cooped up somewhere, you are in a small enclosed space from which you cannot escape, or you feel as if you are:

Cooped up in a small dark cell, the prisoner hadn't seen daylight for five years.

It's such a tiny office - don't you ever feel cooped up here?

make off phrasal verb INFORMAL

to leave quickly, usually in order to escape:

The burglars made off before the police arrived.

egomania

n.

Obsessive preoccupation with the self.

egomaniac e'go·ma'ni·ac' (-nē-ăk') n.

egomaniacal e'go·ma·ni'a·cal (-mə-nī'ə-kəl) adj.

egomaniacally e'go·ma·ni'a·cal·ly adv.

adjective

Concerned only with oneself: egocentric, egoistic, egoistical, egotistic, egotistical, self-absorbed, self-centered, self-involved, selfish, self-seeking, self-serving. Idioms: wrapped up in oneself.

pal around phrasal verb US INFORMAL
to spend time with someone that you are very friendly with:
He used to pal around with one of the president's sons.