| 词组 | area |
| 释义 | area Copperud 1970, 1980 reports a few members of his consensus as objecting in a rather general way to area used as a vague or faddish term in place of field, problem, issue, or question—themselves no great snakes in respect to specific application. Copperud's critics are echoed by Nickles 1974 and Janis 1984. The objection to vagueness is not compelling—you use area (or field or problem, etc.) in a vague and imprecise way when you do not want a more precise term, or when there is no such term. The vagueness is not inadvertent. The extension of area from spatial reference to a more figurative sense is neither illogical nor farfetched. It is hard, therefore, to find any sound basis for objection. What probably brought forth the complaint was the relatively recent and apparently sudden onset of the usage (the sudden popularity of an expression or construction always seems to excite negative comment—for some examples see arguably; as; hopefully; like, as, as if; split infinitive). Most of our evidence for this figurative extension of area comes after World War II. In addition, much of the early evidence comes from education—a discipline frequently reproved for its use of jargon—and some from law, similarly the object of reproof. Here are a few typical examples from our early evidence: • ... one course in each of the three Areas: Natural Sciences (including Mathematics); Social Studies; and Arts, Letters and Philosophy —Official Register of Harvard University, 1947 • The work in the Area of the Holy Scriptures is coordinated to present the study of the Bible as an essential unity —San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1948 Catalog • ... the appointment of principal bibliographers in the areas of the humanities and the social sciences —Current Biography 1947 • ... all measures affecting a particular area of the law —Charles J. Zinn, "How Our Laws Are Made," in U.S. Code, 1952 Extension to more general areas (or fields or realms or domains), though not well attested in our files, came fairly early: • You have limited the area of illusion and you have set conditions which the novelist must meet —Bernard DeVoto, The World of Fiction, 1950 When we move to more recent evidence, we find a considerable spread in application and the addition of another specific locus of frequent use—annual reports of corporations. Some examples of the spread: • ... the Company's development in the area of consumer products and services —Thomas E. Hanigan, Jr., in Annual Report, W. R. Grace & Co., 1970 • ... one of those statements that fall within the twilight area of being neither right nor wrong —Times Literary Supp., 22 Jan. 1970 • The confrontation model pervades every area of international politics —Richard Barnet, Harper's, November 1971 • ... TV news is another area in which being female is somewhat analogous to being black —Harvey Aron-son, Cosmopolitan, April 1973 • ... the unusually large number of salable titles this year—most of them in the fantasy area —Richard R. Lingeman, N. Y. Times Book Rev., 11 Dec. 1977 • Any form, insofar as we can name it ... associates itself with an area of thought —Donald Hall, Goat-foot Milktongue Twinbird, 1978 The spread, and perhaps the increasing frequency, of use has contributed to the establishment of two phrases in which area figures: "in the area of X" and "in the X area." Janis takes note of "in the area of—he terms it informal for about. His example relates to money; we likewise have evidence for this use from business contexts: • Sylvania earns in the area of 15% pretax —Forbes, 1 Dec. 1970 In other contexts the meaning of the phrase comes closer to "with respect to": • In the area of plotters, Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix, or Houston Instruments can sell you ... —Eric Tei-cholz, Datamation, 4 Mar. 1980 • In the area of international relations he has upheld military assistance —Current Biography, January 1966 • In the areas of race relations, student protesters and anti-war protesters ... he has the approval of... — Peter Steinfels, Commonweal, 9 Oct. 1970 "In the X area" has a similar financial application: • Most of the disbursements have been in the $ 1000 area —Jay Merritt, Rolling Stone, 12 June 1980 It also has some vogue among those who speak for public officials, when they are interviewed on radio or television and wish to avoid, for whatever reason, being too specific: • ... shot in the stomach area ... the knee area ... the chest area —Springfield, Mass., police spokesman, television news, 13 Aug. 1984 Even this intentional vagueness can be put to use by a clever writer. • ... she insisted that Bond's do something about the voluminous excesses of the pants, which in the seat area could have accommodated both me and a watermelon —Russell Baker, Growing Up, 1982 All of the uses of area illustrated here are in fact from standard English, and a few are even from literary English. You need not be afraid of using a vague word when a vague word is what you need. |
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