密歇根新闻广播 剖析一下top banana这个词组

 

Consider the banana. Actually, consider the top banana, because that's the phrase that someone recently brought to our attention.

Professor Anne Curzan says a friend told her she loves the phrase "top banana" because of its theater etymology¹.

"I wanted to nod wisely at that moment, like I knew that piece of information, but in fact, I did not," Curzan says.

Time for some banana-related homework.

From what we can tell, "top banana" is theater slang, mostly in the US. Originally, it meant the leading comic in burlesque² entertainment. Today, we generally use it to talk about the most important person in an organization or activity, with "second banana" as the second most important.

The Oxford³ English Dictionary's first citation⁴ of "top banana" is from 1948, though others have since predated that with a 1947 citation. The OED has this example, which inludes quotation⁵ marks and a parenthetical: "Joey was a 'top banana,' (burlesque for comic) at a time when [Abbott and Costello] were second and third bananas."

The New York Times has an article from 1958 that dates "top banana" back to 1927. The article describes a routine in which three comedians⁶ are trying to share two bananas, with one person as the "top banana" and one as the "second banana."

When it comes to frequency of use, we found that "second banana" is much more common than "top banana." So, if you've ever felt like a second banana, don't worry. Clearly, it just means you're more popular.

1 etymology   

n.语源；字源学

参考例句：

• The hippies' etymology is contentious.关于嬉皮士的语源是有争议的。
• The origin of OK became the Holy Grail of etymology.OK的出典成了词源学梦寐以求的圣杯。

2 burlesque   

v.嘲弄，戏仿；n.嘲弄，取笑，滑稽模仿

参考例句：

• Our comic play was a burlesque of a Shakespearean tragedy.我们的喜剧是对莎士比亚一出悲剧的讽刺性模仿。
• He shouldn't burlesque the elder.他不应模仿那长者。

3 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

4 citation   

n.引用，引证，引用文；传票

参考例句：

• He had to sign the proposition for the citation.他只好在受奖申请书上签了字。
• The court could issue a citation and fine Ms. Robbins.法庭可能会发传票，对罗宾斯女士处以罚款。

5 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。

6 comedians   

n.喜剧演员，丑角( comedian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The voice was rich, lordly, Harvardish, like all the boring radio comedians'imitations. 声音浑厚、威严，俨然是哈佛出身的气派，就跟无线电里所有的滑稽演员叫人已经听腻的模仿完全一样。 来自辞典例句
• He distracted them by joking and imitating movie and radio comedians. 他用开玩笑的方法或者模仿电影及广播中的滑稽演员来对付他们。 来自辞典例句