| 词组 | expectorate |
| 释义 | expectorate Back in the days when chewing tobacco was a common habit, expectorate enjoyed some popularity among the genteel as a euphemism for spit. Like most euphemisms, it provoked a certain amount of criticism. Our files include a clipping from the Springfield (Mass.) Republican of 10 Apr. 1903, in which "elegant people" are reported to have been writing letters to New York's board of health complaining about the use of spit in public signs, and suggesting the substitution of expectorate. The story goes on— But the president, Dr Lederle, produced a letter written by Theodore Roosevelt when he was police commissioner, asking: "Can't you have our form of notice changed so as to read 'spit' instead of'expectorate?' Expectorate is a vile word, and the health board ought to use good English." Mr. Roosevelt was right, and the health board did well to take his advice. The clipping ends with the assertion that, other than in medical use, expectorate "is of no value except in the punning observation: 'A man who expectorates on the floor cannot expect to rate as a gentleman.'" Expectorate is still sometimes used to mean "spit," but the user is now more likely to be trying for humor than politeness. The noun expectoration has the same quality: • ... became something of a folk figure partly because of the enormous chaw that bulged out his cheek, and his thoughtful, brooding expectorations were relentlessly depicted by the television cameras —Robert W. Creamer, Sports Illustrated, 24 Jan. 1983 Such usage no longer provokes letters, pro or con. Expectorate and expectoration now occur chiefly in medical writing, in which they usually describe the expulsion of material from the lungs. |
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