2018年12月23日星期日

vulgar, fairy, hieroglyphic, middle name

French scholar Jean-François Champollion was born #onthisday in 1790.

He used the Rosetta Stone as a key to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, laying the foundations of our knowledge of ancient Egyptian language and culture. Champollion realised that hieroglyphs recorded the sound of the Egyptian language – a crucial step was made when he pieced together the alphabet of hieroglyphs used to write the names of non-Egyptian rulers.

You can read more about the Rosetta Stone and why it’s so important in our blog post: http://ow.ly/8m9030n4oJu

As Shutdown Talk Rises, Trump’s Immigration Words Pose Risks for Both Parties

By JONATHAN MARTIN, MICHAEL D. SHEAR and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

The fight over President Trump’s vulgar comment is exposing divisions in both parties, raising the risk of a government shutdown with unknown political consequences.

話說大才子Horace Walpole (1717-1797) 撰印Hieroglyphic Tales: (1785 日本人稱為象形文字譚 第一版在自家 Strawberry Hill --著名文壇和建築，現在為天主教大聖馬利學院的印刷場，只印六份）：我千辛萬苦找到：第五則故事：TALE V. Mi Li. A Chinese Fairy Tale.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14098/14098-h/14098-h.htm
Mi Li, prince of China, was brought up by his godmother the fairy Hih, who was famous for telling fortunes with a tea-cup. From that unerring oracle she assured him, that he would be the most unhappy man alive unless he married a princess whose name was the same with her father's dominions.
除非娶一名字必須與其父的領地同名得公主，否則將是世界上最不快活的。

Horace Walpole (1717-1797) 撰印Hieroglyphic Tales: (1785，日本人稱為象形文字譚)
“In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs.”
―from "The Age of Innocence" by Edith Wharton

British Council Taiwan

英語小學堂‬：外國朋友主動告訴你他的middle name時，那是他的拿手絕活！

許多西方人都有取中間名 middle name，不過"middle name" 一詞在歐美文化中，其「調侃」用意居多；像《六人行》主角Chandler就有一句經典台詞："Let me handle it. Handle is my middle name." 叫大家「包在他身上」就對了！👍

BC成人英語課程教務長Daniel常說：「想把一個語言學好，要先瞭解它的文化！」來台超過10年的他說得一口道地的中文，可信度相當高啊！瞭解更多：http://goo.gl/YkRuZy

Since 1905, "middle name" has also developed a figurative usage meaning a notable or outstanding attribute of a person, as in the phrase "discretion is my middle name."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_name

middle name

noun

a person's name placed after the first name and before the surname.
a quality for which a person is notable.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_name

“In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs.”
―from THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton

vulgar

音節vul・gar 発音記号/vˈʌlgɚ｜‐gə/音声を聞く形容詞

(vulgar・er; vulgar・est; more vulgar; most vulgar)

〈人・態度・言葉など〉俗悪な，野卑な，低級な; 下品な，卑猥(_ひ_わ_い)な，みだらな(⇔polite).

a vulgar fellow 柄の悪い男.

限定用法の形容詞 (比較なし)

一般大衆の，庶民の.

the vulgar herd [crowd] 《軽蔑》一般民衆, 庶民.

一般に信じられて[行なわれて]いる，俗間の.

a vulgar error 一般に誤り信じられている事柄.

〈言語が〉民衆一般が使用する.

the vulgar tongue [language] 自国語, 国語《★以前は特にラテン語に対していった》.

hieroglyphic

(hī'ər-ə-glĭf'ĭk, hī'rə-) also hieroglyphical (-ĭ-kəl)
adj.

1. Of, relating to, or being a system of writing, such as that of ancient Egypt, in which pictorial symbols are used to represent meaning or sounds or a combination of meaning and sound.
2. Written with such symbols.
Difficult to read or decipher.

1. A hieroglyph.
2. Hieroglyphic writing, especially that of the ancient Egyptians. Often used in the plural with a singular or plural verb.
Something, such as illegible or undecipherable writing, that is felt to resemble a hieroglyph.

[French hiéroglyphique, from Late Latin hieroglyphicus, from Greek hierogluphikos : hieros, holy + gluphē, carving (from gluphein, to carve).]

fairy

n., pl. -ies.

A tiny imaginary being in human form, depicted as clever, mischievous, and possessing magical powers.
Offensive Slang. Used as a disparaging term for a homosexual man.

[Middle English fairie, fairyland, enchanted being, from Old French faerie, from fae, fairy, from Vulgar Latin Fāta, goddess of fate, from Latin fātum, fate. See fate.]