2024年5月24日星期五

teeny, teeny weeny, itsy-bitsy, cosy up to. Ivan Karamazov

Fine writers do psychoanalysis

Ivan Karamazov to his brother Alyosha:

“By the way,” Ivan went on, seeming not to hear his brother’s words, “a man I met recently in Moscow told me about the crimes committed by Turks and Circassians in Bulgaria through fear of an uprising of the Slavs.

They burn villages, murder, outrage women and children, they nail their prisoners by the ears to the fences, leave them so till morning, and then hang them - all sorts of things you can’t imagine.

People speak sometimes about the ‘bestial’ cruelty of man, but that is terribly unjust and offensive to beasts, no animal could ever be so cruel as a man, so artfully, so artistically cruel.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, Part II, Book V, Pro and Contra Chapter IV, Rebellion, 1880

Here's a teeny tiny box from 18th century China, in the form of a mythical beast who's having a little rest.
We don't know much about it's origins, just that it was made in Beijing around 1736-1795.

They do hours of exhausting childcare so their own offspring can enjoy careers and holidays. So are they a teeny bit resentful?

The grannies forced to be unpaid nannies

Gone is the time when Granny would while away the hours meeting friends for tea or cosying up in front of afternoon television. Now many perform the role of mother to their grandchildren.

DAILYM.AI

紐約時報 August 23, 2005 說某南韓地方鼓勵穿 bikini，消費可享一成優惠：

BYEONSAN BIKINI BEACH, South Korea - It seemed like a good idea, a surefire way to catapult this beach into the ranks of Bali and Waikiki: a 10 percent discount for anyone in a bikini. 該文（摘要詳下）之標題，強調此一「算記」，乃失誤也。它多採用「微 -少- 小」之行容詞：
A Tourism Plan's Itsy-Bitsy, Teeny-Weeny Miscalculation
By NORIMITSU ONISHI【 -----(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

itsy-bitsy
adjective [before noun] (US ALSO itty-bitty) HUMOROUS
extremely small:
She has these itsy-bitsy little hands and feet.

teeny (weeny) ]
adjective INFORMAL
very small:
Just a teeny weeny slice of cake for me, please - I'm supposed to be on a diet.
informal

Tiny:a teeny bit of criticism】

The spot uses a remixed version of the 1960 song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," yet features a yellow bikini with red polka dots.