staid, duh, sidekick, dimwitted, hard-nosed, Prime Minister, beachhead, Like, Duh. sidekick FRIEND. American Pizazz Meets the Staid Traditions of Sumo

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

American Pizazz Meets the Staid Traditions of Sumo

At Madison Square Garden, New Yorkers got a rare look at an ancient Japanese sport, cheering and booing as though they were watching a Yankees game.

Scotland is going to the polls against a backdrop of nationalist euphoria. Will the staid yet sensible arguments of the No campaign be enough to save the union? http://econ.st/1pjIjoj

The future of Scotland: Will the ayes have it?

ECON.ST

It’s funny, because one of the early titles was Like, Duh. Because whenever I would show my research to young people, they’d say, “Like, duh. Isn’t this so obvious?” And it opens with the anecdote of a boy who says, “Can you just talk to my mom? Can you tell her that I’m going to be okay?” I found that refrain so common among young people.

 

De Blasio Is Elected New York City Mayor in Landslide

By MICHAEL BARBARO and DAVID W. CHEN

The election of Bill de Blasio, the Democratic candidate, amounted to a forceful rejection of the hard-nosed, business-minded style of governance that reigned for the past two decades. 

Beijing Flaunts Cross-Border Clout in Search for Drug Lord

By JANE PERLEZ and BREE FENG 9:09 PM ET

BAN MOM, Laos — The manhunt that led to the capture of a notorious drug lord named Naw Kham was a hard-nosed display of the Chinese government’s political and economic clout across Laos, Myanmar and Thailand.

I just said a one-man demonstration, but actually he's not alone. Walking behind him are a woman and a man, the former carrying an umbrella and the latter accompanied by a dog on a leash and his right hand holding a signboard that says, "Stop."
Except for the signboards, the trio (plus the dog) could just as well be enjoying a leisurely stroll in the neighborhood.
The scene somehow reminded me of the popular "Mito Komon" TV samurai drama series, in which the protagonist, Komon-sama, is always accompanied by his two loyal sidekicks, Suke-san and Kaku-san.



The state of the Chinese nation

Yes, prime minister

Microsoft Recovers Lost Sidekick Data

Microsoft said it has been able to recover the personal data lost on many of T-Mobile USA's Sidekick messaging phones.

Yes, Prime Minister

Plot

This 16-episode "Britcom" was a sequel to the popular BBC comedy series Yes, Minister. Paul Eddington reprised his role as dimwitted Member of Parliament Jim Hacker, who on this occasion had rather incredibly been elected Prime Minister of Great Britain. Alas, Hacker was still plagued with subordinates who flaunted their intellectual superiority over him, notably scheming undersecretary Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne).



Stepping Out From Putin's Shadow
MOSCOW -- With a series of careful moves and subtle statements, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has begun to shed his image as the obedient sidekick of his powerful predecessor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, fueling speculation that their partnership could be strained by the nation's worsenin...
(By Philip P. Pan, The Washington Post)


In the least surprising news since Barack Obama's victory last week, the Treasury Department officially announced that it has switched gears and will no longer be using the $700 billion bailout package to buy toxic securities. Instead, the money will continue to be used to inject capital into financial institutions with a stepped up emphasis on efforts to loosen up the frozen consumer credit market. The Los Angeles Times deftly recognizes the no-duh aspect of the announcement and leads with an analysis while relegating the straight-up news story to its inside pages. "The surprise content of the announcement today is precisely zero," a finance professor tells the LAT. "This is not a change of policy, but a recognition of a policy that's already happened."

Word Origin: duh

interj.
Used to express disdain for something deemed stupid or obvious, especially a self-evident remark.

[Imitative of an utterance attributed to slow-witted people.]

Origin: 1963
In 1963, the New York Times Magazine explained the usefulness of this little word: "A favorite expression is 'duh.'... This is the standard retort used when someone makes a conversational contribution bordering on the banal. For example, the first child says, 'The Russians were first in space.' Unimpressed, the second child replies (or rather grunts), 'Duh.'"
Well, duh. It's a no-brainer. It began as an outward expression of a slow-witted cartoon character's mental processes, as in a 1943 Merrie Melodies movie: "Duh.... Well, he can't outsmart me,' cause I'm a moron." Later in the twentieth century it blossomed into every man, woman, and child's condescending exclamation upon hearing a self-evident and thereby unnecessary remark. It is so simple that it is one of the first verbal weapons learned by children, so effective that it stays in their linguistic arsenal as they grow to adulthood. For maximum effect, duh can be extended long and loud, with an extra twist in the pitch of the voice.
Because it stoops to the presumed mental level of the remark on which it comments, duh can backfire, implying that the perpetrator rather than the recipient is dimwitted. But since most of us are not Rocket Scientists (1985), who cares? We've made our point, regardless. Duh!







Professor Lewin delivers his lectures with the panache of Julia Child bringing French cooking to amateurs and the zany theatricality of You-Tube’s greatest hits. He is part of a new generation of academic stars who hold forth in cyberspace on their college Web sites and even, without charge, on iTunes U, which went up in May on Apple’s iTunes Store.

注

hard-nosed

Translate hard-nosed | into Italian

adjective

informal

realistic and determined; tough-minded:a hard-nosed businessman

staid

(stād)
adj.

1. Characterized by sedate dignity and often a strait-laced sense of propriety; sober. See synonyms at serious.
2. Fixed; permanent: “There is nothing settled, nothing staid in this universe” (Virginia Woolf).

[From obsolete staid, past participle of STAY¹.]

staidly staid'ly adv.
staidness staid'ness n.

staid
adjective
serious, boring and slightly old-fashioned:
In an attempt to change its staid image, the newspaper has created a new section aimed at younger readers.

━━ n. 浜, 磯(いそ), 海岸; 湖畔; ((集合的)) （岸の）小石.
on the beach　おちぶれて.
━━ v. 岸に乗上げる［引上げる］.
beach ball　ビーチボール.
beach buggy　（タイヤの大きい）砂浜用自動車, サンドバギー.
beach・comber　（浜辺の）うねり波; 浜辺の拾得物で生活する人.
beach flea　〔米〕 ＝sand hopper.
beach・front　海岸通り ((waterfrontよりさらに海寄り)).
beach・goer　海水浴をする人.
beach・head　【軍】橋頭堡(ほ); （発展の）足がかり.
beachhead demands　（労使交渉においての組合側の）当初［足掛かり］要求.
beach-la-Mar
　（西太平洋の島々で使われる）なまり英語.
beach umbrella　〔米〕 ビーチパラソル.
beach・wear　ビーチウェア, 海浜着.

Definition of sidekick

noun

informal

a person’s assistant or close associate, especially one who has less authority than that person: Sherlock Holmes' bumbling sidekick Watson

sidekick

n. Slang.
A close companion or comrade.

sidekick FRIEND

dimwit Show phonetics
noun [C] INFORMAL
a stupid person:
I've forgotten what I came in here for - I'm such a dimwit!
Look where you're going, dimwit!

dim-witted Show phonetics
adjective
stupid:
Marilyn was portrayed as some sort of dim-witted, floozy blonde.

Definition of flaunt

verb

[with object]

• display (something) ostentatiously, especially in order to provoke envy or admiration or to show defiance:newly rich consumers eager to flaunt their prosperity
• (flaunt oneself) dress or behave in a sexually provocative way.

Phrases

if you've got it, flaunt it

informal one should make a conspicuous and confident show of one’s wealth or attributes rather than be modest about them.

Derivatives

flaunter

noun

flaunty

adjective

Origin:

mid 16th century: of unknown origin

Flaunt and flout may sound similar but they have different meanings. Flaunt means ‘display ostentatiously,’ as in tourists who liked to flaunt their wealth, while flout means ‘openly disregard (a rule or convention),’ as in new recruits growing their hair and flouting convention. It is a common error, recorded since around the 1940s, to use flaunt when flout is intended, as in the young woman had been flaunting the rules and regulations.