| 词组 | fulsome |
| 释义 | fulsome When words formerly common come to be used rarely, the lexicographer may have some difficulty in interpreting them. Fulsome is such a word. It appears to have had some frequency in Middle English; the Middle English Dictionary lists three main senses. These appear to have subdivided and proliferated in the 16th and 17th centuries particularly, to judge from the evidence in the OED, which lists seven main senses with six subsenses. By the time the F section of the OED was edited—it was published in 1897—the floodtide of usage had receded considerably; the evidence for most of the senses runs out in either the 17th or the 18th century. The OED editor duly marked all but two senses obsolete, and one of the remaining two probably obsolete. Samuel Johnson, in his Dictionary of 1755, was closer to the point of receding usage, but in his limited citational resources he saw only four senses, each attested by 16th or 17th century works. He missed the first two senses listed in the OED as well as the only sense the OED considered live: fulsome praise, flattery, cant. Noah Webster in 1828 noticed something peculiar about Johnson's definitions. He printed them verbatim but added this note: "These are the English definitions offulsome, but I have never witnessed such applications of the word in the United States." He included, under the spelling fullsome, a definition of the sense he found current: • Gross; disgusting by plainness, grossness or excess; as fullsome flattery or praise. This is, of course, the same sense the OED editor considered to be live. The considerable comment about the frequent use or misuse of fulsome is an American phenomenon of only recent occurrence, starting in the late 1940s or early 1950s in response to the word's beginning to appear with some frequency in newspapers and magazines. The following filler from the June 30, 1951, issue of the New Yorker is typical: • Nick Schenk, head of Loew's Inc., is at work now drafting the letter of acceptance of L. B. Mayer's resignation—to make it so fulsome that even Mr. Mayer will like it. —Leonard Lyons in the Post. You mean so coarse, gross, foul, satiating, nauseating, sickening? Or you mean so repulsive, disgusting, and offensive to moral sensibility? All of the synonymous terms supplied by the New Yorker editor are taken from Webster's Second, published in 1934. They illustrate the contribution of this dictionary and its predecessor to the problem. The editor of fulsome for Webster 1909 had available-in the OED the full history of the word, but little evidence of current use. He clearly used the OED information in revising the definition of the 1890 unabridged. But he did two things that would have future repercussions: he included in the definition hints from two definitions the OED editor considered obsolete, or probably obsolete; and he added at the end, apparently out of his own head, the words "insincerity or baseness of motive." Both of these characteristics of the 1909 definition were carried over into the 1934 book. The history of fulsome is quite complex, as the OED treatment shows. But when 19th- and 20th-century citations are compared with those of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, it is pretty clear that the word had stronger negative implications in older use than it has in modern use. Thus the retention of terms used to define the older uses has resulted in a definition too strongly worded to describe 20th-century use very accurately. The addition of "insincerity or baseness of motive" was also unfortunate. It appears to have been the 1909 editor's notion of why fulsome praise might be offered, but it has never been a meaning of the adjective itself. In other words, fulsome praise, fulsome tributes, and so forth, may connote insincerity or baseness of motive, but the adjective fulsome does not denote such a thing, as the OED definition and citations demonstrate. So one major contributor to the controversy has been an overembellished dictionary definition written sometime before 1909, reprinted in the 1934 unabridged (and, with variations, in numerous smaller dictionaries and handbooks on usage) and then repeated, with varying degrees of accuracy of recall, by members of usage panels. A measure of misreading has sometimes added to the problem: the first string of adjectives listed by the New Yorker editor are from a definition labeled obsolete in both the 1909 and 1934 Webster. The citation reprehended in the New Yorker, incidentally, seems to fit reasonably well within the OED definition: "Of language, style, behaviour, etc.: Offensive to good taste; esp. offending from excess or want of measure or from being 'over-done'. Now chiefly used in reference to gross or excessive flattery, over-demonstrative affection, or the like." Leonard Lyons does not appear to be ascribing good taste to L. B. Mayer, although perhaps effusive might have served the writer's purpose less controversially. Then how is fulsome actually used in the 20th century? The largest part of our citations deal with praise, but a number of the earlier senses listed in the OED still persist, if attested only occasionally. The etymologically purest sense (OED 1)—"characterized by abundance; copious, full"—is still in use. This is the sense that draws the most frequent criticism: • ... illustrating with fulsome quotations both the underlying philosophy and the nature of its expression in poetry —Times Literary Supp., 16 June 1966 • The Ecclesiological Society, which the author describes in fulsome detail, seems to have been a redoubtable and influential institution —George N. Shuster, Key Reporter, Spring 1963 • The quick passing of the hours will make them more cherished, and lend more fulsome importance and value to their use —Kenneth L. Patton, The Humanist, Summer 1947 • Their promises, while fulsome, were clothed in substance —Consumer Reports, April 1969 • The chief resentment against the President is the belief that he has made no fulsome effort to clean up the mess —editorial, Springfield (Mass.) Union, 18 Mar. 1951 The sense applied to the roundness or fullness of the figure (OED 2) turns up now and then: • Crisp sheer shantung dresses over crinolines give fulsome billowy figure flattery —Women's Wear Daily, 2 Apr. 1952 • ... Life (May 19, 1958, p. 2) referred to Miss Margaret O'Brien as "a fulsome 20-year-old" with "sinuous curves" —Evans 1962 The sense applied to the flavor or taste of food (OED 3b) was alive as late as 1927, although much weakened in force: • ... an exquisite wine, Sainte Croix du Mont, which called itself a Sauternes. I could not make out why it lacked the rather fulsome sweetness of ordinary Sauternes ... —Stephen Gwynn, In Praise of France, 1927 The sense of "offensive to normal tastes or sensibilities" (OED 6) also finds occasional use: • Color photography ... has already reflected, in its uses, the true fresh beauties (as well as the fulsome inanities) of the age —Walker Evans, Fortune, July 1954 There is one additional use. It pertains to music, is of recent development, and is related to the earliest sense of the word: • Angel's soloists may be a shade more fulsome, but Argo's choral forces and organist collaborate to create a uniquely chaste atmosphere of sunny Easter-morning devotion —Peter G. Davis, High Fidelity, August 1970 • The fulsome sonority of Wagner filled the giant shed at Tanglewood last night and a soprano new to Tan-glewood audiences stole their hearts —R. C. Hammerich, Springfield (Mass.) Republican, 13 Aug. 1972 • ... and she was in generally fulsome, limpid voice, a few rough moments aside —Thor Eckert, Jr., Christian Science Monitor, 13 Feb. 1980 But most of our citations deal with complimentary language or those who produce such language. In most cases the use is pejorative and causes the critics no concern. It emphasizes the notion of excess or effusiveness: • "... A cast of your skull, sir, ... would be an ornament to any anthropological museum. It is not my intention to be fulsome, but I confess that I covet your skull." —Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1902 • ... has written in your praise in the Harvard Law Review warmly but without being fulsome —Sir Frederick Pollock, letter, 26 Jan. 1928 • ... addressing the spirit as Princess Splendid in terms of fulsome flattery —Sir James G. Frazer, Aftermath, 1937 • The opposition dug up Harding's old encomium of the boss in all its fulsome gush of 'deference and devotion.' —Samuel Hopkins Adams, Incredible Era, 1939 • I gazed at her with an admiration whose extent I did not express, lest I be thought fulsome —A. J. Liebling, New Yorker, 15 Oct. 1955 • ... scorn is heaped ... in measure to equal the fulsome tribute paid every Democratic achievement since the bank holiday —Tom Wicker, N. Y. Times, 17 Oct. 1968 • ... the Sydney Gazette and the Australian both carried fulsome tributes, elegiac verses were penned — Australian Dictionary of Biography, 1967 • Rarely have I found the praise tendered me to be fulsome —Aristides, American Scholar, Autumn 1979 It is sometimes applied tongue-in-cheek: ... Guardian paid him a fulsome compliment: "one of the best-known Canadians in England" —Time, 25 Dec. 1944 • Mr. Lovell recklessly allowed himself to become even more fulsome. "I'll say this for you—when you carve a ham, you don't squinchr he said. —James Reid Parker, New Yorker, 21 Oct. 1950 But there is a real problem with the use of fulsome when it is applied to praise, to an introduction, or to similar ceremonial devices. Fulsome is unusual enough that its attachment to praise or introduction does not immediately connote disparagement to the mind of the hearer, reader, or user encountering it for the first time. There is plenty of evidence that fulsome is taken to be either neutral, meaning approximately "full and detailed," or even complimentary, meaning approximately "generous." The latter use can be illustrated with a remark made by Arkansas Congressman Brooks Hays after a rather long and detailed introduction: • You do me great honor, Betsy, and I'm grateful for this very friendly and very fulsome introduction ... —speech, 4 Oct. 1968 A writer also took the term to be complimentary in a pamphlet on American railroads: • There has been fulsome praise of the gigantic task that the railroads performed during the war —R. Fletcher, "The Way to Better Rail Transporation," March 1947 President Reagan has used it as a neutral term: • I got a very fulsome apology from the President of Iraq —quoted on NBC News, 19 May 1987 Such interpretations of the word are fostered by its application in contexts where the writer's or speaker's intent is not clear and the sense is ambiguous: • Name of Stassen Also to Fore in Light of Fulsome Praise of Both by Dewey —subhead, N. Y. Times, 18 Oct. 1948 • In both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the adoption of the traditional "humble address" of congratulation provided the setting for fulsome tributes to the royal family —Washington Post, 17 Nov. 1948 • Cotton Mather became unduly fulsome in his comment on her [Anne Bradstreet's] life —Dictionary of American Biography, 1929 • Back came some of the most fulsome praise for a vegetable that Thomas ever received —Christian Science Monitor, cited by James J. Kilpatrick, syndicated column, 3 July 1985 In the first two of these, "high praise" is probably intended; a pejorative sense would have been a sly dig out of place in a straight news context—nevertheless, such an implication could be inferred by the reader. The second two are ambiguous because the average reader is unlikely to know how effusive Cotton Mather ordinarily was (or what "duly fulsome" might mean) and to what degree new vegetables are normally praised. The watchword obviously must be care. If you are tempted to use fulsome, remember that it is quite likely to be misunderstood by both the innocent reader and the gimlet-eyed purist unless your context makes your intended meaning abundantly clear. It is not a word familiar enough to carry an ambiguous context to a clear conclusion. Let's try to sum this all up. Fulsome is probably more commonly used in the second half of the 20th century than it has been at any time since the end of the 17th, and curiously enough, our modern mildly pejorative uses are quite similar to those used by the Restoration dramatists—fulsome seems to have been an all-purpose term of abuse in the speech of the stylish people of that time (and it was often bracketed with nauseous). We offer three examples here for their flavor: • SMITH. NOW the devil take thee for a silly, confident, unnatural, fulsome rogue! —George Villiers, The Rehearsal, 1672 • HEARTWELL. I confess I have not been sneering fulsome Lies and nauseous Flattery —William Congreve, The Old Bachelor, 1693 BOY. Sir, there are two men below desire to have the honour of kissing your hand. • LYRIC. They must be knaves or fools, by their fulsome compliment—George Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, 1698 In present-day use fulsome is no more strongly negative than it is in these old uses. Its most common use is in mildly depreciatory contexts, but keep in mind that several nonpejorative meanings, one limited to music, are still current. Most usage commentators and handbooks are still measuring current usage with the rather overblown definition of 1909, and as a result they tend to censure any use they feel is insufficiently pejorative. Modern lexicography will eventually catch up with present-day use, and the commentators, one hopes, will soften their remarks. One commentator has in fact changed his position. Rudolf Flesch in his 1964 book censured the usual modern examples of the word. But in his 1983 book, he said: • If you want to use fulsome in the sense of copious and abundant, go right ahead. We would urge a bit more caution. If you do use the nonpejorative senses, make sure your context is unambiguous. |
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