| 词组 | proposition |
| 释义 | proposition 1. Proposition had been disapproved before. Ayres 1881 disapproved it in the sense of "proposal" (a sense that has been in use since the 14th century), and a number of later commentators—Powell 1925, for instance— continued his objection. Lincoln Library 1924 and Fowler 1926 rolled both objections into one, a compendious approach followed by such later commentators as Copperud 1970, 1980. An issue that had built up that much impetus by the 1920s was likely to survive, and this one has; it can be found in Bernstein 1962, 1965, Phythian 1979, Macmillan 1982, Watt 1967, and Shaw 1975, 1987, in addition to those already mentioned. Is the censure of 1916-1927 still justified? Recent dictionaries— Webster's Third, the OED Supplement—do not stigmatize the term. You can judge its status for yourself from these early and recent examples: • It looks like the biggest mining proposition on earth —Walter Church, quoted in N.Y. Evening Sun, 19 Mar. 1900 • This here sleeping proposition is a lottery —Owen Wister, The Virginian, 1902 • Now, it may occur to some that 33 different scientific bureaus under one head is rather a large proposition —Congressional Record, 26 Oct. 1921 • ... finding ... the valley a most fat and satisfying proposition in the way of garden produce —Mary Wiltshire, Thursday's Child, 1925 • But marriage is a very complicated proposition — U.S. Daily, 23 Aug. 1925 • He was absorbed in his own dexterity and in the proposition of trying to deceive a fish with a bird's feather and a bit of hair —John Cheever, The Wapshot Chronicle, 1957 • The music hall is a worthless proposition economically —Paul Goldberger, N.Y. Times, 1 June 1979 • ... getting a smile from her is a tough proposition — Barry McDermott, Sports Illustrated, 18 Jan. 1982 • Divorce ... is a buy-now-pay-later proposition — Gael Greene, Cosmopolitan, July 1972 • Panjabi is a much more solid proposition than Rajasthani and we take it as our second example — W. B. Lockwood, A Panorama of Indo-European Languages, 1972 • The other book ... is an altogether different proposition —Anatole Broyard, N. Y. Times Book Rev., 24 Mar. 1985 This sense seems to have entered British usage from its hinterlands early in the 20th century (we have a 1903 citation from Anglo-African Argus & Gold Coast Globe) and to have become pretty well established by the middle 1920s (H. W. Fowler hated it). Nowadays it does not seem to be used in as many slangy contexts as it was fifty to seventy years ago; it is old hat to the writers of racy prose. We think the commentators could very well abandon their superannuated complaints; proposition is used in entirely respectable surroundings these days, even though it is not used in the most stately writing. 2. The verb proposition is even newer than the noun sense just discussed, apparently having originated in the 1920s. Its presence seems to have been noticed in the 1930s, although none of our books mentions it before Bernstein 1958. Bernstein saw it in the New York Times, apparently in its later and more specific sense of suggesting sexual intercourse, and was so flabbergasted he didn't believe his eyes: "There's no such verb," he said. By 1965 he admitted it as slang. It seems to have proved useful in this sense, and Copperud 1970, 1980 reports it as standard. It is certainly used without qualms: • ... was arrested as part of a vice detail's sweep of the area after he allegedly propositioned an undercover policewoman —Sports Illustrated, 28 Jan. 1985 The older and more general use of the verb has not received much mention in the handbooks. This sense too seems to have become entirely respectable: • There hadn't been a box-office smash among them, and so the movie companies weren't propositioning Korty —Judith Crist, New York, 28 Jan. 1974 • ... an English publisher propositioned me to write a life of Sainte-Beuve —John Russell, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 23 Feb. 1975 The last complainer about the verb proposition that we have seen was the British writer Honor Tracy (in Encounter, January 1975) who objected to proposition used in place of propose. If you test propose in the examples above, you will notice it does not fit comfortably. |
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