Monday-Morning Quarterbacking: Expressions of Looking Back

 Monday-Morning Quarterbacking: Expressions of Looking Back

Now, the VOA Learning¹ English program Words and Their Stories.

Each week we take a closer look at words and expressions commonly used in American English. We explain how to use them in conversation. We also explore their origins and histories. For that part, we need to look back.

And that is the topic of today’s program: looking back.

When you look back you are remembering the past. The past is where we keep our memories, our mistakes and our successes.

We begin with an expression about the past: What is old is new again. This expression means that trends popular decades ago often become popular again. Younger generations “rediscover” past trends and make them new again.

This expression brings us to a word that is very popular today – retro.

Retro describes clothes, furniture, music and pop culture from an earlier time that are in fashion again. Retro is Latin² for “back,” “behind” or “backward.”

Here is a short dialogue using the word “retro.”

Wow! I love the way you’ve decorated your living room. It looks like the 1960s in here. The furniture is so retro! Is that a real turntable? And are those actual albums?!

Yep. I brought them from my parents’ house. They were up in the attic³ just collecting dust.

I can’t believe people used to listen to music with this equipment. It’s so … complicated⁴.

I know. But I love the retro look and they actually sound great. Turn it up!

“I think to myself what a wonderful world.”

(Louis Armstrong sings “What a Wonderful World.”)

“Retro” is also the first part of another useful word in American English: retrospect⁵. “To retrospect” is to review or consider past events.

A retrospective is a display of an artist’s entire body of work. And in conversation, when you want to say that you have been thinking about the past, you can begin with “in retrospect.”

For example, “In retrospect, I should’ve saved more money for my house. Now, all I can afford is a very small condo.” Or, “In retrospect, he should’ve studied something different at college. It is not easy to find a well-paying job in ancient basket weaving.”

When we look back at past events, we are also using our hindsight. Hindsight is knowledge and understanding we have about an event only after it has happened.

We can say “in hindsight” to express that we should have known something was going to happen.

For example, “In hindsight, I should have known that the party was going to be terrible. Everyone there had been working on the losing political campaign. It was no party at all. It was more like a funeral!”

That example brings us to another “looking back” expression: Hindsight is 20/20. The saying may only be three words. But it is loaded with meaning.

First, let’s explain 20/20. If your eyesight is perfect, you have 20/20 vision⁶. So, if something has already happened you can, of course, see it clearly.

We often say “hindsight is 20/20” in a sarcastic⁷ way. It means a person is unfairly judging the wisdom of someone else’s decision using information that was only available later.

You can also use this expression in a kind way.

For example, “If I had known that I love teaching⁸ English so much, I would have started sooner. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.”

Used this way, you can forgive yourself or others for a misguided decision in the past.

We have another expression with a similar meaning: Monday-morning quarterbacking.

To understand this expression, you first need to know that during American football season many American football teams play on Sundays. So, when Monday morning around, sports commentators¹⁰ and football fans discuss what happened the day before.

You also need to know the job of the quarterback.

The quarterback leads the team. He talks to the team on the field and decides what actions the players will take to win the game.

So, Monday-morning quarterbacks are people who are not actually quarterbacks – they are not even players. But after the game is over, they say what the team should have done, especially if the team lost.

In other words, Monday-morning quarterbacks analyze¹¹ the mistakes others have made after everyone knows the results.

Monday-morning quarterbacks have a bad reputation because they present themselves as having better solutions, even though it is impossible to know what they would have done in the same situation.

The term “Monday-morning quarterbacking” is not limited to American football, or even sports. We use this expression after any competition, such as military battles or political elections¹³.

After the 2016 presidential election¹² in the United States, talking heads, or commentators, filled the news with their Monday-morning quarterbacking. They debated about which side lost or won and why.

However, while the campaigns were actually happening, many of these same commentators said things that were quite different.

In retrospect, perhaps the public should not have paid so much attention to them.

But then again, hindsight is 20/20.

And that brings us to the end of this Words and Their Stories.

Words in This Story

sarcasm¹⁴ – n. the use of words that mean the opposite of what you really want to say especially in order to insult¹⁵ someone, to show irritation¹⁶, or to be funny : sarcastic – adj.

commentator⁹ – n. a person who discusses important people and events on television

reputation – n. the common opinion that people have about someone or something : the way in which people think of someone or something

talking head – n. informal : a person who gives information or opinions on a television show and whose head and shoulders are shown on the television screen

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 Latin   

adj.拉丁的，拉丁语的，拉丁人的；n.拉丁语

参考例句：

• She learned Latin without a master.她无师自通学会了拉丁语。
• Please use only Latin characters.请仅使用拉丁文字符。

3 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

4 complicated   

adj.错综复杂的，麻烦的，结构复杂的

参考例句：

• The poem is so complicated that I cannot make out its meaning.这首诗太复杂，我理解不了它的意思。
• This is the most complicated case I have ever handled.这是我所处理过的最为复杂的案子。

5 retrospect   

n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯

参考例句：

• One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
• In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。

6 vision   

n.视觉，先见之明，光景，视力，眼力，幻想，影像；vt.幻想

参考例句：

• The wall cuts across our line of vision.那面墙挡住了我们的视线。
• Much reading has impaired his vision.大量读书损害了他的视力。

7 sarcastic   

adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的

参考例句：

• I squashed him with a sarcastic remark.我说了一句讽刺的话把他给镇住了。
• She poked fun at people's shortcomings with sarcastic remarks.她冷嘲热讽地拿别人的缺点开玩笑。

8 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

9 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

10 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

12 election   

n.选举，选择权；当选

参考例句：

• There is no doubt but that he will win the election.毫无疑问，他将在竞选中获胜。
• The government will probably fall at the coming election.在即将到来的大选中，该政府很可能要垮台。

13 elections   

n.选举，当选，推举( election的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Republicans got shellacked in the elections. 共和党在选举中一败涂地。
• He emerged victorious in the elections. 他在竞选中脱颖而出获得胜利。

14 sarcasm   

n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic）

参考例句：

• His sarcasm hurt her feelings.他的讽刺伤害了她的感情。
• She was given to using bitter sarcasm.她惯于用尖酸刻薄语言挖苦人。

15 insult   

vt.侮辱，凌辱；n.侮辱的言词或行为

参考例句：

• You will insult her if you don't go to her party. 你要是不去参加她举办的聚会，就对她太无礼了。
• I can't sit down with that insult.我不能忍受那种侮辱。

16 irritation   

n.激怒，恼怒，生气

参考例句：

• He could not hide his irritation that he had not been invited.他无法掩饰因未被邀请而生的气恼。
• Barbicane said nothing,but his silence covered serious irritation.巴比康什么也不说，但是他的沉默里潜伏着阴郁的怒火。