2021-02-10
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด T – Tantalize & harass
แนะนำการใช้ ตามที่ส่วนใหญ่ใช้ แต่ละท้องถิ่น
ความหมาย อาจผันแปร ตาม ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค
Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง Tantalize = ‘TAN-tl-ahyz’
ออกเสียง harass = ‘huh-RAS’ or ‘HAR-uhs’
Dictionary.com
PRONUNCIATION NOTE FOR HARASS
harass, a 17th-century borrowing from French,
has traditionally been pronounced in Englishas [har-uhs],
with stress on the first syllable.
A newer pronunciation, [huh-ras],
has developed in North American (but notBritish) English
and has become the more common one in the U.S.,
especially among younger speakers.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Choose the Right Synonym for harass
WORRY, ANNOY, HARASS, HARRY, PLAGUE, PESTER, TEASE
mean to disturb or irritate by persistent acts.
WORRY implies an incessant goading or attacking that drives one to desperation.
pursued a policy of worrying the enemy
ANNOY implies disturbing one's composure or peace of mind by intrusion, interference, or petty attacks. you're doing that just to annoy me
HARASS implies petty persecutions or burdensome demands that exhaustone's nervous or mental power. harassed on all sides by creditors
HARRY may imply heavy oppression or maltreatment.
the strikers had been harried by thugs
PLAGUE implies a painful and persistent affliction.
plagued all her life by poverty
PESTER stresses the repetition of petty attacks.
constantly pestered with trivial complaints
TEASE suggests an attempt to break down one's resistance or rouse to wrath.
children teased the dog
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Did You Know?
Pity poor King Tantalus of Phrygia.
The mythic monarch offended the ancient Greek gods.
As punishment, he was plunged up to his chin in water in Hades,
where he had to stand beneath overhanging boughs of a tree
heavily laden with ripe, juicy fruit.
But though he was always hungry and thirsty,
Tantalus could neither drink the water nor eat the fruit.
Anytime he reached for them, they would retreat from him.
Our word tantalize is taken from the name of the eternally tormented king.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
A 'Tantalizing' Language Tidbit
'Tantalizing' comes from a Greek myth about eternal frustration.
Because a modern audience expects instant gratification,
we'll tell it to you real quick.
The more familiar you are with Greek mythology,
the less likely it is that you will find tantalizing to be an appealing adjective.
Tantalize ("to tease or tormentby or as if by
presenting something desirable to the view
but continually keeping it out of reach")
is one of a healthy number of English words
which have sprung from characters in Greek mythology,
and, as is so often the case in such circumstances,
the word does not come from a particularly happy story.
It is an eponymous word, taken from the name of Tantalus,
a king of ancient Phrygia (or Sipylus),
who made the mistake of gravely offending the gods.
The way in which Tantalus offended the gods differs from one version to the next; sometimes he was said to have merely shared their secrets with humans
(almost always a big no-no in Greek mythology),
and other times was said to have sacrificed his own son,
Pelops (also not strongly recommended, if you want to have a happy ending in a Greek myth).
Although the transgression committed by Tantalus
may vary from one story to the next,
the supposed punishment suffered by him is generally consistent:
once dead the king was forced to stand in a pool of water,
with fruit hanging just over his head.
The water would recede every time the king tried to take a sip,
and the fruit would lift away every time he reached to take a bite.
Tantalize appears to have been adopted into English
around the end of the 16th century,
with what is currently the earliest known use coming in a poem by Robert Tofte.
Ah doo not still my Soule thus Tantalize, But once (through grace) the same mparadise.
—Robert Tofte, Laura, The Toyes of a Traveller, 1597
Tantalize is not the only wordin English
whose meaning is connected to the punishment
suffered by a person who offended the gods in the myths of ancient Greece.
Sisyphean ("requiring continual and often ineffective effort") comes from Sisyphus,
a king of Corinth who was awarded the punishment of having to
eternally roll a stone up to the top of a hill,
at which point it would always slip from his grasp and roll to the bottom.
Greek Gods really knew how to dish out a punishment.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language
Usage Note:
The pronunciation of harass with stress on the first syllable
(rhyming roughly with Paris) is the older, traditional pronunciation.
The pronunciation with stress on the second syllable
(rhyming roughly with surpass)
is a newer pronunciation that first occurred in American English.
Its use has steadily increased since the mid-1900s.
In our 1987 survey, 50 percent of the Usage Panel
preferred the pronunciation with stress on the first syllable,
and 50 percent preferred stress on the second syllable.
Fourteen years later, in our 2001 survey, preference
for stress on the first syllable dropped to 30 percent
while preference for stress on the second syllable rose to 70 percent.
The results from our 2013 survey suggest that
this trend away from the traditional pronunciation has continued:
only 10 percent preferred the stress on the first syllable,
whereas 90 percent preferred the pronunciation with the stress on the second syllable.
In fact, in 2013, 35 percent of the Panel considered the pronunciation
with the stress on the first syllable to be unacceptable.
The original pronunciation has almost completely given way in only a few decades,
at least in the United States.
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expressions
tantalize & harass
Tantalize means “to torment,”
“to tease by arousing expectations,”
“to disappoint repeatedly.”
Harass implies persecution through demands, threats, or annoyances;
it also suggests disturbing and troublingwith repeated attacks.
A girl tantalizes a boy when she seems to be responsive but refuses to go out with him.
A telephone operator is harassed by the stream of silly request that she receives.
Related words are pester, badger, hound, plaque, bait, torment, disappointment, harry, vex, rack, and
distress.
