2012年11月8日 星期四

a toothsome memoir, pasha of vice/Long in the tooth

If anyone in this world is positioned to write a toothsome memoir, it’s Christopher Hitchens. He’s gone from international socialist to Iraq war enthusiast; he has a moving personal story and is a pasha of vice.


pa·sha pa·cha ('shə, păsh'ə, pə-shä') pronunciation

also
n.
Used formerly as a title for military and civil officers, especially in Turkey and northern Africa.

[Turkish paşa, from Persian pādshāh. See Padishah.]




I cannot get enough of your toothsome honey-sweetened gingerbread!

tooth·some (tūth'səm) pronunciation
adj.
  1. Delicious; luscious: a toothsome pie. See synonyms at delicious.
  2. Pleasant; attractive: a toothsome offer.
  3. Sexually attractive or exciting.
toothsomely tooth'some·ly adv.
toothsomeness tooth'some·ness n.
馬的牙齒。由於馬的牙齒隨年齡而添換,所以看馬齒便可知道馬的年齡。穀梁傳˙僖公二年:「荀息牽馬操璧而前曰:『璧則猶是也,而馬齒加長矣。』」後為自稱年歲的謙詞。北周˙庾信˙謹贈司寇淮南公詩:「猶憐馬齒進,應念節旄稀。」

馬的牙齒隨年齡而增長,故看馬齒即可知馬的年歲。語出穀梁傳˙僖公二年:「荀息牽馬操璧而前曰:『璧則猶是也,而馬齒加長矣。』」後比喻年歲增加。亦作「馬齒長」。

自謙年歲徒增而毫無建樹。如:「虛度六十,馬齒徒長,事業一無所成。」亦作「馬齒徒增」。

ばし 1 【馬歯】

自分の年齢をへりくだっていう語。馬齢。
三省堂提供「大辞林 第二版」より凡例はこちら

うまいしゃ 2 【馬医者】

馬の病気を治療する医者。



 鐵
注音一式 ㄊ|ㄝˇ ㄔˇ
漢語拼音 ti  ch 注音二式 ti  ch
閩南方言。形容人嘴硬。如:「這個人很鐵,被打得鼻青臉腫,還是不認輸。」

Long in the tooth

Meaning

Old, especially of horses or people.

Origin

horseHorses's teeth, unlike humans', continue to grow with age. They also wear down with use, but the changes in the characteristics of the teeth over time make it possible to make a rough estimate of a horse's age by examining them.
There are various similar Latin phrases dating back to the 16th century. The gap between these and the first citation of the English version - in 1852, make it likely that 'long in the tooth' was coined independently from those earlier Latin sayings. That earliest citation is in Thackeray's, The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. and refers to a woman rather than a horse:
"His cousin was now of more than middle age, and had nobody's word but her own for the beauty which she said she once possessed. She was lean, and yellow, and long in the tooth; all the red and white in all the toy-shops in London could not make a beauty of her."

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth

Meaning

Don't be ungrateful when you receive a gift.

Origin

Proverbs are 'short and expressive sayings, in common use, which are recognized as conveying some accepted truth or useful advice'. This example, also often expressed as 'never look a gift horse in the mouth', is as pertinent today as it ever was.
don't look a gift horse in the mouthAs horses develop they grow more teeth and their existing teeth begin to change shape and project further forward. Determining a horse's age from its teeth is a specialist task, but it can be done. This incidentally is also the source of another teeth/age related phrase - long in the tooth.
The advice given in the 'don't look...' proverb is: when receiving a gift be grateful for what it is; don't imply you wished for more by assessing its value.
As with most proverbs the origin is ancient and unknown. We have some clues with this one however. The phrase was originally "don't look a given horse in the mouth" and first appears in print in 1546 in John Heywood's A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, where he gives it as:
"No man ought to looke a geuen hors in the mouth."
Heywood is an interesting character in the development of English. He was employed at the courts of Henry VIII and Mary I as a singer, musician, and playwright. His Proverbs is a comprehensive collection of those sayings known at the time and includes many that are still with us:
- Many hands make light work
- Rome wasn't built in a day
- A good beginning makes a good ending
and so on. These were expressed in the literary language of the day, as in "would yee both eat your cake, and have your cake?", but the modern versions are their obvious descendents.
We can't attribute these to Heywood himself; he collected them from the literary works of the day and from common parlance. He can certainly be given the credit for introducing many proverbs to a wide and continuing audience, including one that Shakespeare later borrowed - All's well that ends well.
See also - 'straight from the horse's mouth'.
See other - phrases and sayings from Shakespeare.
See also: the list of Proverbs.


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