| 释义 |
Pollyanna|ˌpɒlɪˈænə|
Also Polyanna and with lower-case initial.
The name of the heroine of stories written by Eleanor Hodgman Porter (1868–1920), American children's author, used with allusion to her skill at the ‘glad game’ of finding cause for happiness in the most disastrous situations; one who is unduly optimistic or achieves happiness through self-delusion. Also attrib., Comb., and as adj.
[1913E. H. Porter Pollyanna xv. 148 ‘Her name is Pollyanna Whittier.’.. ‘And what are the special ingredients of this wonder-working—tonic of hers?’.. ‘As near as I can find out it is an overwhelming, unquenchable gladness... Her quaint speeches are constantly being repeated to me, and, as near as I can make out, ‘just being glad’ is the tenor of most of them.’] 1921Collier's 11 June 11/1, I should not like to hold stock in a company with Pollyanna as president. 1925Wodehouse Carry On, Jeeves ix. 214 Uncle Thomas, when his gastric juices have been giving him the elbow, can make Schopenhauer look like Pollyanna. 1926B. Barton Bk. Nobody Knows ii. 42 Job's crops are destroyed, his barns burned, his children taken sick, and he himself breaks out all over with horrid boils. In this condition he is visited by a group of three friends—professional moralists and Pollyannas. 1931E. Pound Let. 27 Dec. (1971) 238 With Possum Eliot apptd. to Hawvud, he won't bring the glad polyanna yawp, but the ignorance of the Stork—Auslander—Mabie—Canby period can't continue. 1937M. Hillis Orchids on your Budget i. 14 The Pollyanna-like theory that you can have just as much fun with very little money as you can with a lot of it. 1939Wodehouse Uncle Fred xv. 218 The Ovens home-brewed is a liquid Pollyanna, for ever pointing out the bright side and indicating silver linings. 1940O. Nash Face is Familiar 203 Some people are just naturally Pollyanna, While others call for sugar and cream and strawberries on their manna. 1944T. Rattigan While Sun Shines i. 32 You're not fooling anyone, Babe, but yourself with this Polyanna stuff. I want another drink, you want another drink, so we both have another little drink. 1953Amer. Scholar XXIII. i. 22 As intellectuals, we the ‘Pollyannas’ inevitably..ask ourselves if we can be right, when the country..is with us. 1959A. Huxley Let. 13 Feb. (1969) 866 A short section..devoted to what may be called negative quotations—utterances of pure nonsense, pollyanna uplift, anti-intelligence and anti-liberty. 1962A. H. Maslow Summer Notes on Social Psychology 3 Talk, talk, talk, not very effective, more optimistic and Pollyanna rather than realistic. 1963‘E. Lathen’ Place for Murder ii. 20 Thatcher decided that a Pollyanna tone was necessary... ‘I am looking forward to tomorrow night,’ he said firmly. 1964B. Hardy Appropriate Form iii. 57 Robinson Crusoe is a prototype Pollyanna, comparing what is bad with what might have been much worse. 1971‘D. Shannon’ Ringer ix. 155 You're not exactly a Pollyanna today, Luis. 1977Time 12 Sept. 60/2 Authors who try generally find themselves accused of going soft, of frivolously aping the Pollyanna fadeouts of popular schlock.
Hence Pollyˈann(a)ish a., naïvely cheerful or optimistic; Pollyˈannaism, a statement characteristic of (a) Pollyanna.
1922E. E. Cummings Let. 26 Feb. (1969) 83 Three Soldiers having, in his absence, been rendered Polyannish..by the highly moral Doran. 1923Grey Towers 277, I wrote a paper for English 198 and the reader put on the outside, ‘All right but Polly-Annaish.’ 1946G. Stimpson Bk. about Thousand Things 33 We hear now not only of pollyannas and pollyannaisms, but of pollyanna statements, pollyanna propaganda. 1948Time 6 Dec. 90/2 Mildly Saroyanesque throughout and a trifle Pollyannaish at the end, in its best scenes The Silver Whistle is genuinely funny. 1967R. A. Epstein Theory of Gambling & Statistical Logic xi. 411 Efforts to develop a complete and rigorous axiomatic treatment for psychological probability theory are sanguine, if not pollyannish. 1975Times 18 June 7/5 The special brand of United Nations Pollyannaism. 1976H. H. Humphrey Educ. Public Man ii. 25, I sound Pollyanna-ish when I speak of my childhood, my family, and Doland, but I think it is real and not simply nostalgia. |