2013年7月24日 星期三

digress, divagate, get down to, pernicious and desultory regulators

Destroyed by pernicious and desultory regulators. That's one epitaph for consumer-lending giant Takefuji, which Tuesday filed for bankruptcy.


 I try not to digress too much during my lectures, but I am not always successful at avoiding tangential topics.


In Colorado, Getting Down to Business of Marijuana

By DAN FROSCH
Six weeks after voters made Colorado one of two states to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, a task force started to determine how the state will regulate its use.


Finally, a Motel for Tail-Wagging Romance
Teresa Cristina Carvalho and her Shih Tzu, Mel, saw a room at Animalle Mundo Pet. “We’ll return when Mel is in heat,” she said.
Brazil’s newest short-stay pleasure palace stands apart from the crowd in one crucial aspect. It is for dogs.







I, too, wrote a column at that time about the derivation of keister - a borrowing, through Yiddish, of the German Kiste, "chest" - with its original meaning of "satchel, handbag" and its current meaning of "fanny, rump, bottom, tush, can, buttocks, backside" as well as the British "bum" and the French "derrière." (The bureaucratic cognoscenti prefer "posterior," as in the initialese slogan C.Y.A., meaning "cover your posterior." The "a" stands for a synonym not permitted in The Times, as an admiring salute to a diktat by the former executive editor, A.M. Rosenthal, who thought it was in bad taste and boldly asserted his stylistic prerogative. But I divagate.)





get down to bedrock

get down to business


音節
get [come] down to business
本気で仕事にかかる;本論にはいる.

Finally, a Motel for Tail-Wagging Romance
Teresa Cristina Carvalho and her Shih Tzu, Mel, saw a room at Animalle Mundo Pet. “We’ll return when Mel is in heat,” she said.
Brazil’s newest short-stay pleasure palace stands apart from the crowd in one crucial aspect. It is for dogs.



apart from ...[apart from ...]



divagate
[dáivəgèit]
[動](自)さまよう;〈話が〉わき道にそれる, 脱線する.

intr.v., -gat·ed, -gat·ing, -gates.
  1. To wander or drift about.
  2. To ramble; digress.
[Late Latin dīvagārī, dīvagāt- : Latin dī-, dis-, apart; see dis- + Latin vagārī, to wander (from vagus, wandering).]
divagation di'va·ga'tion n.



真相をきわめる;((米俗))底をつく, 一文無しになる.
get down to business
本気で仕事にかかる;本論にはいる.
come down to cases
((米))(1) 要点にはいる.(2) 真剣に事を考える.
get down to the nitty-gritty
核心をえぐる.

digress

Pronunciation: /dʌɪˈgrɛs/
Translate digress | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish

verb

[no object]
  • leave the main subject temporarily in speech or writing:I have digressed a little from my original plan


Derivatives




digresser

noun

Origin:

early 16th century: from Latin digress- 'stepped away', from the verb digredi, from di- 'aside' + gradi 'to walk'



des·ul·to·ry (dĕs'əl-tôr'ē, -tōr'ē, dĕz'-) pronunciation
adj.
  1. Having no set plan; haphazard or random. See synonyms at chance.
  2. Moving or jumping from one thing to another; disconnected: a desultory speech.
[Latin dēsultōrius, leaping, from dēsultor, a leaper, from dēsultus, past participle of dēsilīre, to leap down : dē-, de- + salīre, to jump.]
desultorily des'ul·to'ri·ly adv.
desultoriness des'ul·to'ri·ness n.

adjective:
1. Marked by absence of a plan; disconnected; jumping from one thing to another.
2. Digressing from the main subject; random.

Etymology
From Latin desultorius (leaping, pertaining to a circus rider who jumps from one horse to another), from desilire (to leap down), from salire (to jump). Other words derived from the same Latin root, salire, are sally, somersault, insult, result, saute, salient, and saltant. Earliest documented use: 1581.

Usage
"Anyway, here we are with our little burgers and cokes, making the sort of desultory conversation that those who have been married 30 years make -- when this newly married couple walk in." — Bikram Vohra; Love is the Last Bite; Khaleej Times (Dubai, United Arab Emirates); Apr 16, 2011.

per·ni·cious (pər-nĭsh'əs) pronunciation
adj.
    1. Tending to cause death or serious injury; deadly: a pernicious virus.
    2. Causing great harm; destructive: pernicious rumors.
  1. Archaic. Evil; wicked.
[Middle English, from Old French pernicios, from Latin perniciōsus, from perniciēs, destruction : per-, per- + nex, nec-, violent death.]
perniciously per·ni'cious·ly adv.
perniciousness per·ni'cious·ness n.

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