| 词组 | notorious |
| 释义 | notorious Usage writers from Ayres 1881 to Harper 1985 have warned all and sundry not to confuse notorious with famous, notable, or noted. They point out that notorious has a pejorative connotation: "widely and unfavorably known." Other usage writers, from Vizetelly 1906 to Copperud 1970, 1980 reply that the word is not always used pejoratively. Notorious is a word that has suffered from guilt by association. It came into use in the middle of the 16th century with the neutral meaning "well or widely known," but very early it came to be used with nouns of unsavory meaning—one of the earliest uses shown in the OED is the combination "notorious sinners." And frequent use with nouns of this kind has colored the subsequent use of the word. Notorious has a fairly frequent employment. Part of its popularity is the tang that clings to all uses of the word from its frequent use to mean "widely and unfavorably known." Even in its neutral uses, as we shall see, its association with the unfavorable, disreputable, and unsavory gives it a piquancy, an emphatic quality, that a mere noted, notable, famous, or even celebrated lacks. Thus, it is often the word chosen by writers who are aware of its particular flavor; writers who are not aware of that flavor can get themselves into trouble, as did the advertising copywriter who wrote a radio commercial for a local boutique calling attention to the availability of a painter in residence who was "notorious for his portraits." Our evidence shows that most writers who use notorious are well aware of its overtones. Here are the ways in which it is used. It is always pejorative when linked with a noun for an undesirable person: • ... a notorious gunman for the Profaci family — Tom Buckley, Harper's, August 1971 • ... a notorious muddle-head, as Lenin unkindly described him —Times Literary Supp., 31 Dec. 1971 • "... when he was a notorious bank robber...." — Morley Callaghan, More Joy in Heaven, 1937 • ... to ridicule the follies of Dr. John Hill, a notorious quack and hack writer —John Butt, English Literature in the Mid-Eighteenth Century, edited & completed by Geoffrey Carnall, 1979 When notorious is applied as an attributive or predicate adjective to a person, you can assume that it is being used pejoratively: • ... biography of someone as notorious as Adolf Hitler —John Kenneth Galbraith, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 22 Apr. 1973 • ... its first chiefs, the notorious Bielaski brothers — I. F. Stone's Bi-Weekly, 19 Apr. 1971 • ... when the notorious Captain Bligh sailed into port in 1793 —Caleb Pirtle III, Southern Living, November 1971 • ... whose audience is notorious as one of the most unruly in show business —Current Biography, April 1968 Often there will be clues that indicate a milder or even humorous use: • ... Alben and I had our pictures taken, as is usual when notorious persons leave or arrive in cities — Harry S. Truman, diary, 20 Sept. 1945 • ... is a notorious soft touch for friends and strangers alike —Current Biography, April 1966 • ... a notorious first-ball hitter, did just that. Only he hit it on the ground to third —Ron Fimrite, Sports Illustrated, 4 Nov. 1985 • ... Lady Demeter being a notorious non-smoker — William J. Locke, The Great Pandolfo, 1924 • A totally uncharacteristic work by the century's most notorious modernist —Time, 22 Aug. 1955 • Neither union officials nor executive vice presidents are notorious students of abstract truth —Richard E. Danielson, Atlantic, February 1947 Note that in each of these nonpejorative examples the selection of notorious rather than well-known, notable, famous, etc., is undoubtedly due to the word's overtones. Notorious is frequently applied as an attributive or predicate adjective to nouns that the linguist would describe as "not human." The word verges on the neutral in many such applications. Still, in the absence of clues to the contrary, you will find the intent to be pejorative: • Some weeds have become notorious in tropical forestry —Charles J. Taylor, Tropical Forestry, 1962 • ... the President's veto of the notorious McCarran thought-control bill —Harold L. Ickes, New Republic, 29 Nov. 1950 • A notorious district known as 'Hard Dig' was burned in 1826 by a mob of zealous citizens —American Guide Series: Massachusetts, 1937 • ... commander of a notorious Confederate prison camp —Current Biography, June 1966 • ... patrician style and plutocratic swagger; famous names and notorious fortunes —Louis Kronenber-ger, Atlantic, December 1971 • Their school was St. Cyprian's, later notorious as the subject of Orwell's recollections —Marvin Mudrick, Harper's, January 1983 But very often there are no moral overtones; notorious is simply used as a more emphatic celebrated, famous, or well-known: • ... the notorious mass-energy relation, E = mc2 — P. W. Bridgman, Yale Rev., Summer 1947 • ... the notorious thoroughness with which Clay conducts inspections —E. J. Kahn, Jr., New Yorker, 13 Jan. 1951 • ... one of those notorious dance marathons of the twenties —Richard Watts, Jr., New Republic, 1 Sept. 1947 • ... it is the chimpanzee ... that is the notorious chatterer —Weston La Barre, The Human Animal, 1954 • ... used iron sheets for the fronts of buildings, despite the fact that iron is a notorious conductor of heat —Lewis Mumford, Technics and Civilization, 1934 • ... they fill a notorious gap in the literature on ancient Rome —M. I. Finley, N. Y. Rev. of Books, 3 June 1971 • The success and influence of the alumni of the Scottish universities in many spheres of national life is notorious —Sir James Mountford, British Universities, 1966 • He was involved in a notorious controversy with the poet Swinburne —K. M. Elisabeth Murray, Caught in the Web of Words, 1977 In the construction notorious for, the strength of notorious is usually dependent on the matter following for: • ... fields notorious for high risk and heavy start-up costs —Dun's, October 1971 • ... a man notorious for his unscrupulous business methods —Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull-House, 1910 • ... quickly became notorious for her abominable cruelties —Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men, 1946 • ... I am notorious for my habit of looking on the bright side —John O'Hara, letter, 3 Aug. 1962 • Presidents are, in the eyes of bureaucrats, notorious for putting off decisions —Leslie H. Gelb & Morton H. Halperin, Harper's, June 1972 • The flight of the Loon is very swift and direct; it is notorious for its ability to dive instantly —Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States, 1927 • Novelists are notorious for their howlers —V. S. Pritchett, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 28 Nov. 1954 • ... Galicia, a region notorious for the shrewdness of its sons —New Republic, 22 Nov. 1948 • ... the American was to be notorious for his passion for gadgets —Henry Steele Commager, Atlantic, December 1946 In the construction it is notorious that, notorious is nearly always neutral; any pejorative intent has to be supplied by the matter following that, which seldom happens: • ... and concerning taste it is notorious that there can be no dispute —Ashley Montagu, Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race, 2d ed., 1945 • We have commentators, but it is notorious that they are not allowed to comment —Jacques Barzun, Atlantic, February 1947 • That his dedicated intention was to write something that should not die is notorious —Times Literary Supp., 28 Nov. 1942 • That he was not always pleased is notorious —D. J. R. Bruckner, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 16 Oct. 1983 • It is notorious that Kant made a place for ethics in his system —Walter Lowrie, Sewanee Rev., Summer 1950 You can see from the examples that most writers have no problem handling notorious. All you have to remember is that it always seems to have a certain piquancy, a certain bite, from its frequent association with persons and things of undesirable character. Even when it is neutral in denotation, it has that characteristic flavor. |
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