Meaning of "couldn’t have spoken more disparagingly of a rat"
Hello everyone. Nice to meet you!
I am reading a novel, and I came across this expression. Could you please let me know its meaning?
[Rollo speaking] “So, you were saying about Inky?”
[Clara speaking] “Gone. Left for good.”
I felt sorry for Inky. Here was a man to whom she’d just given all the proof of love a man needs, and a minute later she couldn’t have spoken more disparagingly of a rat. Wasn’t she trying a bit too hard for someone who was just indifferent?
- André Aciman, Eight White Nights, First Night
This is a novel published in the United States of America in 2010. This novel is narrated by the nameless male protagonist who meets Clara at a Christmas party in Manhattan. Clara's friend Rollo and the protagonist and Clara are talking. (Inky appears to be Clara's ex-boyfriend.)
Here, it seems that Clara is talking about her ex-boyfriend Inky, but this expression seems to say she is talking about a rat... So I am confused, would it be that, if she were to speak of a rat, it would be still less disparaging than she was talking right now about her ex-boyfriend? (I am just guessing.)
Thank you very much.
Top answer
Curious Reader would it be that, if she were to speak of a rat, it would be still less disparaging than she was talking right now about her ex-boyfriend? Close enough. The way she was talking about Inky was so disparaging that if she had been talking disparagingly about a rat, instead, the way she talked about that filthy animal could not possibly have been any worse than the way she was talking about Inky now.
- Curious Reader would it be that, if she were to speak of a rat, it would be still less disparaging than she was talking right now about her ex-boyfriend?
- Close enough.
- The way she was talking about Inky was so disparaging that if she had been talking disparagingly about a rat, instead, the way she talked about that filthy animal could not possibly have been any worse than the way she was talking about Inky now.
- The negative conditional setup with a comparative finish is a formula.
- He could not have loved her more.
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Curious Readerwould it be that, if she were to speak of a rat, it would be still less disparaging than she was talking right now about her ex-boyfriend?
Close enough. The way she was talking about Inky was so disparaging that if she had been talking disparagingly about a rat, instead, the way she talked about that filthy animal could not possibly have been
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