APAD: Backward in coming forward

來源: 2025-03-21 08:32:05 [博客] [舊帖] [給我悄悄話] 本文已被閱讀:

Meaning:

   Shy or reluctant to do something. Here `backward' means shy or unwilling;

   `come forward' means present oneself into view.

 

Background:

  `Backward in coming forward' first began to appear in print early 19th century

  England. The `come forward' part of the expression had long been used with the

  meaning `announce oneself'. An early example of that usage in print is found

  in the English poet William Neville's mystical poem Castell of Pleasure, 1518:

 

     Come forward and be not afrayd your selfe to auaunce.

 

   The first example of `backward in coming forward' in print that I know of is

   in Cobbett's Annual Register, Volume 4, July-December 1803:

 

     "Is it matter of surprise that men proud of their birth, of their

     hereditary honours, of their ancient families, should be backward to come

     forward..."

 

   The expression is less used now than it was in the first half of the 20th

   century, although it is still quite commonplace where I live in the north of

   England. As is well-known in the UK, Yorkshire folk are not renowned for

   being backward in coming forward.

 

- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]

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For me, lacking confidence in English has been the root of many problems since I

came to the west. By that time, for example, I had spent 25 years learning not

to stand out in a herd and been punished for each transgression. All of a

sudden, I plunged headlong into a new crowd where nearly everyone specialized in

tooting their own horn. Self-concious in social settings, a class or seminar,

for example, I often tried to hide my insecurity and went backward in coming

foward, hoping no one would notice.

 

A gun wouldn't help. Nor would running. Not for me. But building physical

strength seemed worthwhile. A friend and Chinese scholar said he sometimes

forgot his stutter once he could do 10 Turkish getups with a 32kg kettlebell.