| don't give someone the time of day | свысока, презрительно относиться Ignore someone, refuse to pay the slightest attention to someone, as in "He's tried to be friendly but she won't give him the time of day". the expression goes far back beyond the time when people wore watches... In Shakespeare's day, the meaning was quite clear. "Good time of day" or "fair time of day" was a salutation just like "good morning" or "good evening"...We no longer greet people by saying "good time of day," but we still use the idea of giving such a greeting as a sign of favorable attention. In other words, refusing to give someone the time of day is thinking so little of him that you would not say hello to him on the street." I visited Galway, Ireland, where there is a tower in the centre of the old town. The story I was told was that centuries ago the town folk voted to pay for a town clock to be placed on the tower. They placed a face on three sides of the tower, but left one side without a clock because the families who lived on that side of the town didn't contribute (or were unpopular, can't remember which). So they "wouldn't give them the time of day"! I've always liked this story of the origin of the saying; (см. тж.) don't give a shit about smth; к кому-либо (4uzhoj) |
