| 词组 | contemptuous |
| 释义 | contemptuous 1.Contemptible, contemptuous. In the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries these two words were used interchangeably, as the citations in the OED show. Shakespeare, in particular, provides a good example of the practice of those times: the four Shakespearean citations listed in the OED at contemptible and contemptuous are the only ones listed in Bartlett's Concordance to Shakespeare (1894), and these four citations constitute one use of each word with each meaning. By 1770, however, at least one person was voicing dissatisfaction over the ambiguity of the adverb forms of these words: • If I hear it said that one Man treats another contemptibly, I hardly know whether the Meaning is that he treats him with Contempt, or that his own Behaviour is contemptible —Baker 1770 The ambiguity is of the kind that can become a springboard for wit. Bache 1869 relates an anecdote about "Dr. Parr" (possibly Dr. Samuel Parr 1747-1825, an English pedagogue known as a vastly learned but dogmatic conversationalist): • A man once said to Dr. Parr:—"Sir, I have a contemptible opinion of you." "Sir," replied the Doctor, "that does not surprise me: all your opinions are contemptible." This riposte caught the fancy of Ayres 1881, who took the anecdote for his own book, and Lurie 1927, who did likewise. Baker's complaint and Parr's retort were probably reflections of the attitudes and usage developing around them. The date of the last citation in the OED for contemptuous meaning "worthy of contempt" is 1796, for contemptible meaning "full of contempt" is 1816, and for contemptibly meaning "with contempt" is 1827. The evidence we have for later uses of these meanings is scanty: Fowler 1926 quotes a citation for contemptibly, and Patrick Cosgrave (in the February 1975 issue of Encounter) alludes to a speech by the British political leader Edward Heath. Besides that we have one citation in our files: • ... it looks so contemptuous to see a grown man or woman chewing in public —Monica Sheridan, Irish Digest, March 1955 Though we have little direct evidence for the continued use of these meanings, there is plenty of indirect evidence in the form of injunctions against such uses. We know of more than twenty sources from the past century or so which advise readers not to confuse contemptible and contemptuous. No doubt some of these commentators include this topic simply because a predecessor did. However, the subject has been revived so often that it may be true that some people are inclined to use contemptible to mean "showing contempt" and contemptuous to mean "worthy of contempt" in speech and casual writing, even though such uses rarely find their way into print. We are therefore joining the ranks of the cautious in advising you to keep contemptible and contemptuous distinct. 2. When contemptuous is used in the predicate and followed by a prepositional-phrase complement, the preposition is always of: • ... I have been indifferent to, if not indeed contemptuous of, blame —Havelock Ellis, My Life, 1939 • ... they seem to grow more sullen, sloppy, and contemptuous of the public they are supposed to serve —John Fischer, Harper's, November 1971 |
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