2016年4月14日 星期四

smug, cordon/“the slave thing,” aeries, vizier

Britons' willingness to pay more tax during the first world war put their country's credit on a stable footing to continue fighting. "Civic courage is as important in its sphere as military courage, and we may justly claim in this time of stress that we have not been found wanting in either of these virtues," said Britain's chancellor of the exchequer. From The Economist, 100 years ago this week



A word of advice: do not go to see the film “Inherent Vice” expecting to understand it. Audiences who recognise references to noir predecessors like “The Big Sleep” or, most notably, Robert Altman’s 1970s neo-noir “The Long Goodbye” may feel a smug sense of satisfaction. But for most people the plot will be hard to followhttp://econ.st/1A7lqyn
There is something dreadfully smug about central bankers, so brainy and influential, yet so rarely accountable. When they descend from their aeries in Washington, London and Frankfurt, they are gnomic and cleverer-than-thou. Inscrutability comes with their wizardry. How could the mere voting public ever expect to understand the magic of these unelected grand viziers? Leave the hard stuff to us, boys and girls, they seem to say. Better that way.


The Obama White House is too white.
It has Barack Obama, raised in the Hawaiian hood and Indonesia, and Valerie Jarrett, who spent her early years in Iran.
But unlike Bill Clinton, who never needed help fathoming Southern black culture, Obama lacks advisers who are descended from the central African-American experience, ones who understand “the slave thing,” as a top black Democrat dryly puts it.
The first black president should expand beyond his campaign security blanket, the smug cordon of overprotective white guys surrounding him — a long political tradition underscored by Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 when she complained about the “smart-ass white boys” from Walter Mondale’s campaign who tried to boss her around.
Otherwise, this administration will keep tripping over race rather than inspiring on race.



cordonLine breaks: cor¦don
Pronunciation: /ˈkɔːd(ə)n /


Definition of cordon in English:

NOUN

1A line or circle of policesoldiers, or guardspreventing access to or from an area or building:the crowd was halted in front of the police cordon

3Architecture projecting course of brick or stone on the face of a wall.

VERB

[WITH OBJECT] (cordon something off)Back to top  
Prevent access to or from an area or building bysurrounding it with police or other guards:the city centre was cordoned off after fires werediscovered in two stores

Origin

late Middle English (denoting an ornamental braid): fromItalian cordone, augmentative of corda, and Frenchcordon, diminutive of corde, both from Latin chorda'string, rope' (see cord)sense 3 of the noun, the earliest of the current noun senses, dates from the early 18th century.


vizier

Syllabification: (vi·zier)
Pronunciation: /vəˈzi(ə)r/

Definition of vizier


noun

historical
  • a high official in some Muslim countries, especially in Turkey under Ottoman rule.


Derivatives




vizierate


noun



vizierial


Pronunciation: /-ˈzi(ə)rēəl/
adjective



viziership


Pronunciation: /-ˌSHip/
noun

Origin:

mid 16th century: via Turkish from Arabic wazīr 'caliph's chief counselor'



aerie

Syllabification: (aer·ie)

(also eyrie)
Translate aerie | into Italian
Definition of aerie


noun

  • a large nest of a bird of prey, especially an eagle, typically built high in a tree or on a cliff.

Origin:

late 15th century: from medieval Latin aeria, aerea, eyria, probably from Old French aire, from Latin area 'level piece of ground', in late Latin 'nest of a bird of prey'

smug

adj., smug·ger, smug·gest.
Exhibiting or feeling great or offensive satisfaction with oneself or with one's situation; self-righteously complacent: "the smug look of a toad breakfasting on fat marsh flies" (William Pearson).

[Perhaps akin to Low German smuck, neat, from Middle Low German, from smucken, to adorn.]
smugly smug'ly adv.
smugness smug'ness n.

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