2020年1月12日 星期日

masterstroke. mealy-mouthed, post-coital, egocentricity, favas, weasel, madness/horrible mistake



In the end, Mr. Sorkin wrote, the move "will either go down as a masterstroke -- or a horrible mistake."


It was a master stroke to make him an old man. An old man is the ideal anti-hero, without his usual hang- ups. His age emancipates him from the stifling egocentricity of so many characters in contemporary fiction. His needs have narrowed down to the need to understand. To him, everything is peroration, a summing up, a post-coital perspective, so to speak.



Despite being one of the first cultivated crops in history, many cultures had mixed feelings about favas.



Fava beans can be lethal.
ATLASOBSCURA.COM




Masayoshi Son was briefly the richest person in the world. His company almost went bankrupt, but he bounced back. And one investment in particular turned out to be a masterstroke http://bloom.bg/2i3rFD4


"It was nerve-destroying. But after five months I got Stanley to switch production to the Republic of Ireland - which I thought was my masterstroke."

Vicia faba, also known as the broad beanfava beanfaba beanfield beanbell bean, or tic bean, is a species of flowering plant in the peaand bean family Fabaceae. It is of uncertain origin[1]:160 and widely cultivated as a crop. A variety Vicia faba var. equina Pers. – horse bean is recognized as an accepted name.[2]
蠶豆學名Vicia faba)是一年生或越年生豆科草本植物,又名胡豆佛豆川豆倭豆羅漢豆,原產亞洲西南部和非洲北部。相傳西漢張騫出使西域時期傳入中國,8世紀左右從中國傳入日本

post-coital

Definition of postcoital


occurring after coitus used or occurring following sexual intercoursepostcoital contraception

Post-coital tristesse (PCT) is the feeling of sadness, anxiety, agitation or aggression after sexual intercourse, mostly in males. Its name comes from New Latin postcoitalis and French tristesse, literally "sadness". Many people with PCT may ...


master stroke


a very skilful and opportune act:
  • Klein’s master stroke was the creation of the advertorial


mealy-mouthed
adjective
  1. afraid to speak frankly or straightforwardly.

    "mealy-mouthed excuses"







Feminine products get an extra dose of euphemism. In visual form, this means that those made for absorption are famously shown doing so soaking up pale blue fluid, and women riding horses or doing yoga. In words, it means talking not about the problem, but the desired outcome: “freshness”, “security”, “protection”. One brand, Kotex, decided to parody the typical evasiveness of such mealy-mouthed marketing in an advert—a brilliant idea, until American networks refused to air spots that mentioned where the product would be used. The word vagina was unacceptableon three big American networks, and even “down there”, a wink-wink workaround, was unacceptable for two. The spot is still pretty funny—but loses much of the punch it would have had in the original form.






The Economist

On May 14th, the New York Times tweeted that “dozens of Palestinians have died in protests”. Social media went ballistic. The fault was soon laid not only at the door of the Times, but at the passive voice. The problem is that the tweet was not passive


Grammar is not to blame for mealy-mouthed journalism
The weasel voice
ECONOMIST.COM




weasel



NOUN

  • 1A small, slender carnivorous mammal related to, but smaller than, the stoat.
    Genus Mustela, family Mustelidae (the weasel family): several species, in particular M. nivalis of northern Eurasia and northern North America. The family also includes the polecats, minks, martens, skunks, wolverine, otters, and badgers
    1. 1.1Irish A stoat.
  • 2A deceitful or treacherous person.
    ‘he was a double-crossing weasel’



VERB

[NO OBJECT]
  • 1Achieve something by use of cunning or deceit.
    ‘she suspects me of trying to weasel my way into his affections’
    1. 1.1North American Behave or talk evasively.
      ‘we needed him to take a firm stand, but he weaselled’

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