Is the "downright" a positive meaning in this sentence?
fl
I read the following article, which talks about the popular
smartphones. Although my dictionary told me "downright" (In the last
sentence below) is a negative word, I doubt that it is a confirmation
word here. Right? Thanks.
.......
In other words, I expect both Motorola and Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), among
others, to show great smartphone sales over the holidays. This market
is just now growing into its considerable promise, and the only way is
up. It's a bad time to specialize in plain old "feature phones," but a
downright awesome time for the smartphone specialists.
Don Phillipson
news:75f8e496-2ee8-49e9...@g26g2000yqe.googlegroups.com...
> Although my dictionary told me "downright" (In the last
> sentence below) is a negative word, I doubt that it is a confirmation
> word here. Right? Thanks.
In the para. quoted, downright means plain, simple, straightforward,
honest etc. This is its usual meaning. The word usually has a
negative connotation only in conjunction with a negative word: e.g.
someone might be described as downright hostile, downright rude,
etc. In such contexts the adverb is a simple intensifier expressing
(say) 99 per cent.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
Pat Durkin
As Don P says, "downright" is used as an intensifier. On the other
hand, "upright" has the sense of a moral judgement, indicating someone
is above-board, honest, forthright, etc. and is positive in its
outlook.
There is, of course a strictly physical position for "upright"
(upright piano), or "Stand the ladder upright, please". It may be
that the metaphorical sense came from the positional sense. I can't
make any such history for the "downright", but can recall a cartoon
character (Foghorn Claghorn?) talking about someone or something being
"downright upright"--really good.
CDB
downright awesome time for the smartphone specialists.]
>
I think "downright", used as an adverb, can usually be replaced by
"simply" without changing the meaning of the phrase, but I think it's
usually an intensifier, as it is in the example requoted just above.
R H Draney
>
>There is, of course a strictly physical position for "upright"
>(upright piano), or "Stand the ladder upright, please". It may be
>that the metaphorical sense came from the positional sense. I can't
>make any such history for the "downright", but can recall a cartoon
>character (Foghorn Claghorn?) talking about someone or something being
>"downright upright"--really good.
I seem to recognize the juxtaposition from a commercial...coffee, I think....
There was a story at the foot of a page of Reader's Digest many years ago about
a small town with four ministers, all named Wright...the locals had assigned
them nicknames taken from the locations of their various churches: the church in
the valley was led by Down Wright, the one on the hilltop by Up Wright, the one
in the countryside by Out Wright, and the last (location not specified) by
Fourth Wright....r
--
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?...or like this?
Skitt
> "fl" wrote>
>> Although my dictionary told me "downright" (In the last
>> sentence below) is a negative word, I doubt that it is a confirmation
>> word here. Right? Thanks.
>
> In the para. quoted, downright means plain, simple, straightforward,
> honest etc. This is its usual meaning. The word usually has a
> negative connotation only in conjunction with a negative word: e.g.
> someone might be described as downright hostile, downright rude,
> etc. In such contexts the adverb is a simple intensifier expressing
> (say) 99 per cent.
Actually, aside from some archaic or obsolete meanings, "downright" (the
adverb) means "absolutely", as the quoted expression contains "a downright
awesome time".
See http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/downright
--
Skitt (AmE)