| 释义 |
country cousin
country cousinn. A person with the unsophisticated or ingenuous manners associated with the country by city dwellers.country cousin n an unsophisticated person from the country, esp one regarded as an object of amusement coun′try cous′in
n. a person from a small town to whom city life is novel and bewildering. [1760–70] Translationscountry cousin
country cousinSomeone unknowledgeable, unsophisticated, or naïve about the niceties and complexities of an urban environment, especially in a humorous or quaint capacity. I always try to lend a hand to the poor country cousins who invariably stand bewildered by the skyscrapers and the incredible noise of traffic. I thought I was savvy enough to live in New York City, but I soon felt like the country cousin.See also: country, cousincountry cousinOne whose lack of sophistication or rural ways may amuse or embarrass city dwellers. For example, The sightseeing guide geared his tour toward country cousins who had never been to a large city before . This term, which literally means "a cousin who lives in the country," has been used in this figurative way since the second half of the 1700s, although the idea is much older (such persons were stock figures of fun in Restoration comedies of the late 1600s and early 1700s). See also: country, cousina country ˈbumpkin/ˈcousin (informal, usually disapproving) a person from the countryside who is not used to towns or cities and seems stupid: He felt a real country bumpkin, sitting in that expensive restaurant, not knowing which cutlery to use.See also: bumpkin, country, cousincountry cousinA visiting unsophisticated relative or friend whose naiveté or rough manners embarrass the host. Such a person became a stock figure of fun in Restoration comedies (of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries). The precise term was current by the second half of the eighteenth century and a cliché by the mid-nineteenth century. Anthony Trollope’s son’s reminiscences (Thomas Adolphus Trollope, What I Remember, 1887) included, “One of the sights of London for country cousins was to see the mails starting.” The term is heard less often today.See also: country, cousin |