文章目录
Podcast
brummagem adj. [BRUM-ih-jum]
冒充的，便宜货的；
Definition
: not genuine: spurious; also: cheaply showy: tawdry
：不是真的：同义词spurious，假的，伪造的；另：廉价的且卖弄的：同义词tawdry，廉价俗丽的
注：spurious：假的，伪造的；tawdry：tawdry：廉价而俗丽的
Did You Know?
Brummagem first appeared in the 17th century as an alteration of Birmingham, the name of a city in England. At that time Birmingham was notorious for the counterfeit coins made there, and the word brummagem quickly became associated with things forged or inauthentic. By the 19th century, Birmingham had become a chief manufacture of cheap trinkets and gilt jewelry, and again the word brummagem followed suit — it came to describe that which is showy on the outside but essentially of low quality. Perhaps the term was something of an annoyance to the people of Birmingham way back when, but nowadays when brummagem is used (which isn’t often) it’s usually without any conscious reference to the British city.
词源词根演化：Birmingham (n. British city) —> Brummagem
Brummagem 最早出现在17世纪，是英语城市名Birmingham的变体写法。在当时，这个城市由于伪造货币而恶名昭著，于是brummagem这个单词很快就与伪造物或者赝品联系起来了。到了19世纪，Birmingham又成为了廉价饰品与镀金珠宝的制造地，于是又一次 — brummagem开始指代金玉其外败絮其中的廉价品。在那个时候，Birmingham的人们对这个词感到烦恼，不过到了现代，人们对这个词的使用（也不是很频繁）并不会有意识的要联系到这个英国城市。
注：trinket ['trɪŋkɪt] ：廉价的小装饰品，不值钱的珠宝；gilt：镀金，虚饰；follow suit：学样，照做
Examples
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The members of the bachelorette party stumbled out of the limousine with the bride wearing a brummagem tiara and sash.
伴娘团成员从豪华轿车上蹒跚下来，新娘则穿戴着廉价的头冠和腰带。注：bachelorette： [ˌbætʃələ’ret] 未婚女子；bachelorette pary：伴娘团；stumble：绊倒，蹒跚，犯错误，无意中发现；limousine：豪华轿车； tiara：冠状头饰；sash：腰带
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“Just as critics … conceived high culture in some antithetical relationship to ‘middlebrow’ or ‘kitsch,’ which imitated the intelligentsia’s culture and blurred the distinction between commodity and art, so too, they warned, the spirit of Christianity now had to be preserved from its brummagem version… .”
— Jason W. Stevens, God-Fearing and Free, 2010
正如评论所说 … 设想了某种与“中产世界”或者“俗人世界”对立的高级文化，这种文化模仿了高知阶层的文化，同时模糊了商业与艺术的界限。如此，他们也警告说，基督教的真正精髓需要被保留，以与它的赝品版本区分开。
注：conceive：设想，想出，怀孕；antithetical：对偶的，对立的；middlebrow：知识中等的人，中产阶级兴趣的人；kitsch [kɪtʃ] ：俗气，庸俗艺术；intelligentsia [in-ˌte-lə-ˈjen(t)-sē-ə]：知识分子阶层；blur：使模糊；
Bonus
over-the-top adj.
informal
:going beyond what is expected, usual, normal, or appropriate: excessive or exaggerated
- an over-the-top performance
- These shoes and stockings are over-the-top.