久久亚洲国产成人影院-久久亚洲国产的中文-久久亚洲国产高清-久久亚洲国产精品-亚洲图片偷拍自拍-亚洲图色视频

 
 
 

Totem pole?

中國日報網(wǎng) 2014-08-05 10:50

 

Totem pole?

Reader question:

An unemployed man who can only find part-time jobs says he is “at the bottom of the totem pole”. What does it mean?

My comments:

He means to say his social position is very low. Without a regular job, he doesn’t have a chance to make much money, regularly at any rate and therefore has little chance to get ahead, socially speaking.

Let’s hope that some day, he gets a regular job and gets out of the bottom dwelling – and climb a rung or two up the totem pole, again socially speaking.

The totem pole, you see, is a large tree trunk which North American Indians use as cultural symbols. On the pole are carved images of gods and legends which are called totems – and which signify, among other things hierarchical structure of their society.

The “totem pole” as a symbol of social hierarchy in society at large was popularized by American author H. Allen Smith, though, in a best selling humor book titled “Low man on the totem pole”. Allen was speaking freely and generally there of course. He does not mean to say that the carved figures on the bottom of the totem pole to be low in rank or stature. As a matter of fact, the opposite is true. In a real totem pole, the lower positions are usually occupied by more important gods and legends. This only makes sense because the bottom of a tree trunk is larger in diameter, thus enabling larger images to be carved therein. Also, the bottom of the pole is close to people on the ground. Totems down low therefore look large – larger, that is, than if they were at the top of the pole due to their distance.

At any rate, Smith coined the expression “l(fā)ow man on the totem pole” in 1941 and it caught on. Today, if someone says they’re the low man on the totem pole or any project, they mean to say they’re the common man – their rankings, if they’ve got any, are low.

They are, quite frankly, unimportant.

The fact that Smith may have got it all wrong in the very beginning no longer matters – that’s the thing with language. Eventually, it’s common usage that reigns supreme.

Alright, here are examples of “totem pole” as social hierarchy in use:

1. The Lakers elected not to re-sign much of their training and basketball operations staff this summer. It was a total housecleaning move which seems pretty insane considering the vast amount of success the Lakers have enjoyed for the past... well, ever, but especially recently.

Kobe Bryant is generally considered a pretty hard-hearted guy, what with the poisonous snake moniker, ruthless desire to win and cool, calculated demeanor, not to mention the jaw-jut.

How are those two things related? Turns out Kobe Bryant was willing to do the right thing by the video staff, even if the Lakers decided to go in another direction. From the Los Angeles Times:

Kobe Bryant insisted on giving some of the team’s playoff bonus to two members of the Lakers’ video department whose contracts were not renewed after the season. Chris Bodaken and Patrick O’Keefe split about $65,000 of the Lakers’ playoff bonus.

...

He always looks out for people who are lower on the totem pole,” O’Keefe said.

2. Dear Editor: I read The Tuscaloosa News and listen to television news everyday, and I still can’t find anyone or anything I can blame my mistakes on. I wish I could; then I could say they made me do it.

I started off in life at the bottom of the totem pole, and I still am there. Every time I move up a notch, something knocks me back down. While growing up in Hale County, we were sharecroppers. I was in the cotton fields doing a man’s job when I was 7 years old. We started to school when the landowner said we could. I never went a full year of school in my life. When black people got their civil rights, poor people also got theirs. People organized, and plants and farms started paying decent wages. People, black and white, worked and sent their children to school to get educated.

Today, we have the Mexican people to pick on. When I was in the Navy, we had a lot of Mexicans on our ship. They manned the guns like everyone else. There are Mexicans in every branch of service that have fought and died for this country.

What I am trying to say is don’t cut off the hand that feeds you. During the Korean and Vietnam wars, young men from families who could afford to went to Canada and afterward came back home. They wouldn’t fight for their country. Mexican people and black people did fight for this country.

- LETTER: People of all races should come together, by Bobby Fields, TuscaloosaNews.com, November 8, 2011.

3. The manager of an Indiana Pizza Hut has been offered his job back after claiming he was fired for refusing to open the restaurant on Thanksgiving.

Tony Rohr, who worked his way up from cook to manager at the restaurant, in Elkhart, Ind., over 10 years, said the company that owns the store dictated it be open for the holiday, and he refused.

“I said, ‘Why can’t we be the company that stands up and says we care about our employees and they can have the day off?’,” Rohr told WSBT 22. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only two days that they’re closed in the whole year and they’re the only two days that those people are guaranteed to have off to spend with their families.”

After news of the reported firing made national headlines Wednesday night, Pizza Hut announced on its Facebook page that Rohr had been offered his job back.

“We fully respect an employee’s right to not work on a holiday, which is why the vast majority of Pizza Huts in America are closed on Thanksgiving. As a result, we strongly recommended that the local franchisee reinstate the store manager and they have agreed. We look forward to them welcoming Tony back to the team,” the statement read.

Earlier Wednesday, a Pizza Hut rep told WSBT 22 that the decision to remain open on Thanksgiving wasn’t up to Rohr, and that it came from the corporate level.

Rohr wrote a letter venting his frustrations, saying: “I do not resign. However, I accept that the refusal to comply with this greedy, immoral request means the end of my tenure with this company.” He added, “I hope you realize that it is the people at the bottom of the totem pole that make your life possible.”

- Pizza Hut offers job back to manager fired for allegedly refusing to open on Thanksgiving, FoxNews.com, November 28, 2013.

 

本文僅代表作者本人觀點,與本網(wǎng)立場無關(guān)。歡迎大家討論學(xué)術(shù)問題,尊重他人,禁止人身攻擊和發(fā)布一切違反國家現(xiàn)行法律法規(guī)的內(nèi)容。

我要看更多專欄文章

About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

 

相關(guān)閱讀:

Cash cow?

A dose of his own medicine

Kicking the can down the road?

Food chain?

Follow the money?

 

(作者張欣 中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 編輯:陳丹妮)

 

上一篇 : Cash cow?
下一篇 : Lion’s den?

 
中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津版權(quán)說明:凡注明來源為“中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津:XXX(署名)”的原創(chuàng)作品,除與中國日報網(wǎng)簽署英語點津內(nèi)容授權(quán)協(xié)議的網(wǎng)站外,其他任何網(wǎng)站或單位未經(jīng)允許不得非法盜鏈、轉(zhuǎn)載和使用,違者必究。如需使用,請與010-84883561聯(lián)系;凡本網(wǎng)注明“來源:XXX(非英語點津)”的作品,均轉(zhuǎn)載自其它媒體,目的在于傳播更多信息,其他媒體如需轉(zhuǎn)載,請與稿件來源方聯(lián)系,如產(chǎn)生任何問題與本網(wǎng)無關(guān);本網(wǎng)所發(fā)布的歌曲、電影片段,版權(quán)歸原作者所有,僅供學(xué)習(xí)與研究,如果侵權(quán),請?zhí)峁┌鏅?quán)證明,以便盡快刪除。

中國日報網(wǎng)雙語新聞

掃描左側(cè)二維碼

添加Chinadaily_Mobile
你想看的我們這兒都有!

中國日報雙語手機報

點擊左側(cè)圖標(biāo)查看訂閱方式

中國首份雙語手機報
學(xué)英語看資訊一個都不能少!

關(guān)注和訂閱

本文相關(guān)閱讀
人氣排行
搜熱詞
 
 
精華欄目
 

閱讀

詞匯

視聽

翻譯

口語

合作

 

關(guān)于我們 | 聯(lián)系方式 | 招聘信息

Copyright by chinadaily.com.cn. All rights reserved. None of this material may be used for any commercial or public use. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. 版權(quán)聲明:本網(wǎng)站所刊登的中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津內(nèi)容,版權(quán)屬中國日報網(wǎng)所有,未經(jīng)協(xié)議授權(quán),禁止下載使用。 歡迎愿意與本網(wǎng)站合作的單位或個人與我們聯(lián)系。

電話:8610-84883645

傳真:8610-84883500

Email: languagetips@chinadaily.com.cn

主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲 午夜在线一区 | 久久99中文字幕 | 国产精品区牛牛影院 | 日本高清视频一区二区 | 免费一级片视频 | 99福利资源久久福利资源 | 高清国产美女一级a毛片录 高清国产亚洲va精品 | 日本在线视频观看 | 欧美视频在线观在线看 | 欧美一级视屏 | 国产精品久久久久无毒 | 日本一区二区三区免费视频 | 欧美在线二区 | 中文字幕在亚洲第一在线 | 免费观看欧美一级毛片 | 日日摸日日碰夜夜97 | 特黄特黄aaaa级毛片免费看 | 日韩美女视频在线观看 | 亚洲人成高清毛片 | 好吊妞998视频免费观看在线 | 成人在线黄色 | 2021国产精品一区二区在线 | 热re66久久精品国产99热 | 亚洲视频在线观看一区 | 久久久www成人免费精品 | 亚洲精品区在线播放一区二区 | 日韩欧美中文字幕在线观看 | 日本波多野结衣视频 | 99精品国产高清一区二区三区香蕉 | 国产欧美一区二区三区久久 | 亚洲一区二区三区四区五区 | 亚洲高清视频在线观看 | 国产三级做爰在线观看∵ | 午夜精| 国产爽的冒白浆的视频高清 | 成人三级做爰在线视频 | 成人做爰视频www在线观看 | a级黄色毛片免费播放视频 a级精品九九九大片免费看 | 波多野结衣一区二区三区在线观看 | 欧美另类性视频在线看 | 国产精品视频久久久久 |