the humorless wonk
Spanish translation: sabelotodo
| GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| 16:16 Aug 27, 2003 |
| English to Spanish translations [Non-PRO] General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / general | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||
|  Selected response from: Susana Galilea United States Local time: 00:15 | |||
Grading comment
| ||||
Answers
15 mins confidence: 
seriote obsesivo Explanation: espero te ayude saludos ;) |
| |
| Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) | ||
16 mins confidence: 
peer agreement (net): +4
peer agreement (net): +4soso sabelotodo Explanation: Dear Word Detective: What's the origin of "wonk," as in "a politically connected know-it-all"? My first guess is that its origin is a backwards spelling of "know," but I'd be happy to be proved wrong. -- David Dixon, The Netherlands. Your wish is my command, sir. Poof -- you're wrong. But don't take it personally. The theory that "wonk" is simply "know" spelled backwards has been around for a while, although the "wonk/know" convergence is almost certainly a simple coincidence. Incidentally, your definition of "wonk" is a bit incomplete: the American Heritage Dictionary defines "wonk" as "A student who studies excessively; a grind." The Clinton administration, of course, has fairly successfully portrayed this sort of "nerdiness" as a virtue in the age of labyrinthine federal regulations, when only obsessive study holds any hope of chopping through the jungle of bureaucratese. The origin of "wonk" is, alas, obscure at best, though several theories exist. The current meaning of "wonk" is fairly recent, appearing in the U.S. as student slang in the early 1960's. There is also an obscure adjective "wonky," meaning "shaky" or "wrong," from an Old English word meaning "unsteady," but there is no evidence that it is related to our modern "wonk." Another meaning of "wonk," although differing somewhat from "studious," may hold the key to its origin. A "wonk" in British Navy slang is a naval cadet, untrained in the ways of the sea and hardly an asset aboard ship. In what may or may not be a coincidence, "wonk" is also the common term foreign visitors to China use for "dog" (from the Chinese "huang gua" or "yellow dog"). It seems possible that British sailors picked up the word in China and found it a handy way to describe naval cadets, well-versed in book learning but worse than useless on the high seas. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 17 mins (2003-08-27 16:34:05 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Ref. http://www.word-detective.com/030698.html -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 19 mins (2003-08-27 16:35:50 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- soso, sa. (Del lat. insulsus). 1. adj. Que no tiene sal, o tiene poca. 2. adj. ***Dicho de una persona, de una acción o de una palabra: Que carece de gracia y viveza***. U. t. c. s. Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados |
| |
Grading comment
| ||