词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Listener Mail

Broadcast on "Coast to Coast": October 31, 2002
Re-broadcast on VOA News Now: November 3, 2002

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER, we catch up on some listener mail.

RS: The first question is by e-mail from Paul, an English learner in China. He wants to know which is a better name for a hotel: "Hotel California" or "California Hotel."

AA: Paul asks, "Is there any subtle difference? Under what circumstances shall I put 'hotel' before the name of a place?"

RS: For answers, we check in with Tom Cullen, associate dean of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

CULLEN: "If I were a single property, I would choose 'Hotel California.' I also would like, I would certainly like, to get the tie-in with the song."

MUSIC: "Hotel California"

RS: That song is "Hotel California," the big hit from 1976 by the Eagles. It's about a strange hotel where -- to quote one of the lines -- you can check out [anytime you like] but you can never leave.

CULLEN: "If I were building a hotel in China, 'Hotel California' would only be a good choice if what I wanted to indicate was here is a place where you're going to get American-style furnishings and comfort. Otherwise someone might say, 'Why would I stay in a Hotel California in China?' Now, having said that, there is a Hotel California in Paris and it does extremely well and has its own niche¹. So they do exist around the world."

AA: So now what about the second part of Paul's question about hotel names: When should "hotel" come first? Tom Cullen in the Hotel School at Cornell University says the answer may depend on the "brand" of hotel, especially if it's part of a chain, like Holiday Inn or Hilton. The question is, how well is it known?

CULLEN: "If the brand is well known, then normally the brand name will come first, followed by the word hotel. If the brand name is not well known, then the thinking is that the customer is searching for a hotel and wouldn't recognize the brand name and so then the name 'hotel' would traditionally come first. Historically this is partly due to the ease of locating a hotel name in a telephone directory. So if you were looking for a hotel, you would look under H. And if you were looking for the Hilton Hotel, you'd look under H as well, but in a different part of the H's."

AA: Now on to a musical question from Sebastiao Albano of Lavrinhas, Brazil. He's a teacher of Portuguese² and a VOA listener since the 1970s. His question is about a song by the late Frank Sinatra.

MUSIC: "My Way"

RS: "In the lyrics³ of 'My Way' Sinatra says: 'The record shows I took the blows.' What is the meaning of 'to take the blows'? I suppose it is slang, right?'

AA: Right, Sebastiao -- "to take the blows" is slang, although we don't hear it used very much anymore. It means to take the punches, the way a boxer⁴ takes the blows. Metaphorically⁵ speaking, it means taking what life has to give.

RS: Sebastiao told us that every week he waits for Wordmaster. So the least we can do is answer another question of his! Here it is:

AA: "The other day, an American friend, seeing a photograph of me, wrote me and said I am a 'dead ringer' for a certain American actor. That expression made me curious. I suppose it means 'to look like,' right? If so, as I have never seen any film with the actor she mentioned, the only thing that comes to my head is: 'Poor guy, how did he manage to be an actor?'"

RS: Sebastiao is right about the meaning. We looked up "dead ringer" in the Dictionary of American Slang, by the late linguist⁶ Robert L. Chapman.

AA: It says "dead ringer" was in use by 1891. Quote -- "an exact duplicate, especially a person who is the double of another: from , meaning 'precise, exact,' and , meaning 'substitute, especially fraudulently,' an early-19th-century slang term for gambling⁷."

RS: And, you know, "dead ringer" is such a useful expression, it's still going strong in American speech.

AA: And that's Wordmaster for this week. Mail your questions to us at VOA Wordmaster Washington DC 20237 USA. Or send e-mail to。。。。。。。。。RS: You'll find our programs on our Web site. That address is voanews.com/wordmaster. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

MUSIC: "My Way"

 

1 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

2 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

3 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

4 boxer   

n.制箱者，拳击手

参考例句：

• The boxer gave his opponent a punch on the nose.这个拳击手朝他对手的鼻子上猛击一拳。
• He moved lightly on his toes like a boxer.他像拳击手一样踮着脚轻盈移动。

5 metaphorically   

adv. 用比喻地

参考例句：

• It is context and convention that determine whether a term will be interpreted literally or metaphorically. 对一个词的理解是按字面意思还是隐喻的意思要视乎上下文和习惯。
• Metaphorically it implied a sort of admirable energy. 从比喻来讲，它含有一种令人赞许的能量的意思。

6 linguist   

n.语言学家；精通数种外国语言者

参考例句：

• I used to be a linguist till I become a writer.过去我是个语言学家，后来成了作家。
• Professor Cui has a high reputation as a linguist.崔教授作为语言学家名声很高。

7 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。