| 词组 | enjoy |
| 释义 | enjoy Two uses of this verb have drawn occasional criticism since the 19th century. One of them, in the phrase enjoy oneself, can now safely be classed as a dead issue. This old idiom (first recorded in 1656) was faulted by Hodgson 1889, and apprehensions about its propriety persisted in the minds of some people well into the 20th century. Its supposed offense was that it illogically (and, perhaps, indecently) implied taking pleasure in oneself, inasmuch as the "correct" meaning of enjoy is "to take pleasure or satisfaction in." Even Hodgson admitted, however, that this supposedly incorrect phrase was used "by the best writers." The case against it was in fact so weak that no other commentator we know of took up the cause, but it was promoted by enough English teachers to give it some currency among certain members of the general public. Indications are, however, that the currency is now past. There may be a few diehards out there who continue to look askance at this common phrase, but let there be no doubt in your mind about it—enjoy oneself is nothing less than perfectly respectable: • ... and she settled down to enjoy herself alone, working, thinking, living —D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, 1913 • There they all were. Enjoying themselves —Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm, 1932 • ... as if he doesn't quite approve of enjoying himself too much —Elizabeth Drew, New Yorker, 14 Dec. 1987 The other criticized use appears in such a sentence as "He enjoys poor health," in which enjoy is being used as if it were simply a neutral synonym of experience. This use of enjoy is an outgrowth of its common sense, "to have the benefit of; have for one's use or lot": • ... has enjoyed a long and varied career in the United States —Current Biography, September 1967 • ... natural gas will continue to enjoy its historic price advantage —Annual Report, Pacific Lighting Corporation, 1970 This sense of enjoy dates back to the 15th century. The criticized use is also quite old, having been recorded as early as 1577. Such commentators as Richard Grant White 1870 and Ayres 1881 took unfavorable notice of it in the late 1800s, and objections to it can still be found in some usage handbooks. It is not now—and never has been—common in writing, but it does persist in making written appearances from time to time: • ... Mendes appears to have enjoyed poor health — Stephen Birmingham, The Grandees, 1971 • ... could relegate OE to even more profound organizational insignificance than it presently enjoys — Samuel Halperin, Change, January-February 1971 The OED notes that this use of enjoy occurs chiefly "where the [object of the verb] has properly a favourable sense, qualified adversely by the adj[ective]." In essence, then, "to enjoy poor health" serves as another way of saying "to fail to enjoy good health." The problem, of course, is that enjoy so strongly suggests "take pleasure in" that its use with a negative object sounds peculiar. That is why such usage is criticized and why it continues to be uncommon. |
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