英语阅读：Blue blood?
In the news, Japan's new Prime Minister is facing the music for not comingback home in the evening.
"Since taking the helm a month ago," according to AP (Japan PM under fire
over pricey nightlife, October 23, 2008), Taro Aso has spent all but four nights
out on the town at posh bars and eateries."
"Aso's haunts include an upscale hotel bar where coffee is poured out at
$15 a cup, and a ritzy restaurant where the plates of grilled eel start at $175
a serving."
And "the opposition has seized on Aso's nights on the town, claiming the
68-year-old political blueblood and scion of a wealthy family is out of touch
with the people."
This comes, of course, "while much of Japan is grappling with deepening
economic turmoil" as does America, where Sarah Palin, the Republican
Vice-Presidential nominee, has also been under fire for a handsome $150,000
lavished on her by the Republican party to dress her up. Half of the money, or
$75,000, is said to have been done away with in one single shopping trip.
Now, the author of these pages is not bothered about Palin's wardrobe. Nor
am I concerned about Aso's eel-eating in the company of geisha girls and to the
music of Shamisen. And, hand on heart, there's little I can do about the world
economy as a whole other than suffer through it with you lot, my dearest.
Readers, you know me. I'm not concerned with any of that. What I'm concerned
with is – and I have made sure that it is buried deep in text, haven't I? – why
Aso, the Japanese leader, is called a blueblood?
All right. Take a look at the back of your palm and see if you canyou're
your blood veins. If your skin is of a lighter complexion, you can spot them,
greenish and blue. And that's actually where the term "blue blood", as in "blue
blood runs in his veins" comes from. And it originally came from Spain.
From my archive of saved articles, I found this piece from The Hindu,
India's national newspaper (February 11, 2003):
"Blue blood" is actually a translation of the Spanish term "sangre azul".
At one time, the Moors (people of the Arab race) ruled over much of Spain. The
Moors were dark complexioned and during the seven centuries that they ruled
Spain, a lot of interracial marriages took place. But the Spanish aristocrats
who lived in Castile did not intermarry with the Moors. As a result, they
remained extremely fair and began to distinguish themselves from their rulers
and fellow aristocrats by calling themselves "sangre azul". What they meant by
this was that because of their very fair complexion, the veins in their arms
looked blue. It was as if blue blood was running in their veins. How vain can
one get!
Anyways, that is that. Blue blood stands for nobility and aristocracy.
That's why Japan's opposition accused Aso of "being out of touch with the
people." In other words, he is not one of the common folk.
Here are two more media examples of blue blood:
1. Ever since Ronald Reagan the right wing has been looking for a candidate
whose conservative values mirror theirs. They thought George W. Bush was that
person, but he turned out to be the most profligate spender ever in the history
of the presidency, the man who oversaw the greatest wealth transference from
government to private capital since 1776. Besides, unlike Palin, Bush 43 was to
the manor born, a true Yale/Harvard blue blood. Palin's story, coming as she
does from modest means, more closely parallels Reagan's - Main Street and small
town American mythology come to life.
- Sarah Palin & the Presidency, HuffingtonPost.com, October 25,
2008.
2. From a standing start, Tom Pakenham has built up a minicab firm with 80
vehicles in two years. Green Tomato Cars is a taxi firm with a difference, with
its claim to be "London's first and leading environmentally-friendly private
hire operator".
The Cambridge graduate, now 31, seemed to be on a very different course
when he qualified as a solicitor and began working with blueblood law firm
Slaughter and May. But he turned his back on convention, walked out of the
rarified world of intellectual property, got himself a job minicabbing and sold
his flat in Notting Hill, west London, to raise money for his new venture.
- Inspired leadership stimulates taxi firm's organic growth, The Guardian,
October 16, 2008.
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