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Stenka25 Posted 11 years ago
Vocabulary
The meaning of 'the potato crisp'
The passage comes from The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain De Botton.
https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=VgFfus6VN5wC&pg=PT193&lpg=PT193&dq=%22with+a+take+on+the+future+of+the+potato+crisp%22&source=bl&ots=96qAsDbgso&sig=-7-C_LMJ1Az03GBAQcvwyA6dzv0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwin-46tvM3JAhUHJaYKHclnCQoQ6AEIGjAA#v=onepage&q=%22with%20a%20take%20on%20the%20future%20of%20the%20potato%20crisp%22&f=false
Yet in reality, the likelihood of reaching the pinnacle of capitalist society today is only marginally better than were the chances of being accepted into the French nobility four centuries ago, though at least an aristocratic age was franker, and therefore kinder, about the odds. It did not relentlessly play up the possibilities open to all those with a take on the future of the potato crisp, and so, in turn, did not cruelly equate an ordinary life with a failed one.
I'd like to ask a question regarding the underlined 'the potato crisp'.
It seems that it allegorically implies the life of an aristocrat, (so the entire sentence means that the age of aristocracy in France didn't mislead people to think that they can climb up the ladder of hierarchy, if they do whatever is taken to be an aristocrat, and make those who didn't make it think they were failures).
Am I right?
https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=VgFfus6VN5wC&pg=PT193&lpg=PT193&dq=%22with+a+take+on+the+future+of+the+potato+crisp%22&source=bl&ots=96qAsDbgso&sig=-7-C_LMJ1Az03GBAQcvwyA6dzv0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwin-46tvM3JAhUHJaYKHclnCQoQ6AEIGjAA#v=onepage&q=%22with%20a%20take%20on%20the%20future%20of%20the%20potato%20crisp%22&f=false
Yet in reality, the likelihood of reaching the pinnacle of capitalist society today is only marginally better than were the chances of being accepted into the French nobility four centuries ago, though at least an aristocratic age was franker, and therefore kinder, about the odds. It did not relentlessly play up the possibilities open to all those with a take on the future of the potato crisp, and so, in turn, did not cruelly equate an ordinary life with a failed one.
I'd like to ask a question regarding the underlined 'the potato crisp'.
It seems that it allegorically implies the life of an aristocrat, (so the entire sentence means that the age of aristocracy in France didn't mislead people to think that they can climb up the ladder of hierarchy, if they do whatever is taken to be an aristocrat, and make those who didn't make it think they were failures).
Am I right?
Top answer
This is what a potato crisp is
- This is what a potato crisp is
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4 Answers
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I would take it to mean that nowadays there is the idea that one might become rich and famous, for example by building a successful business (the author jokingly suggests a business involving potato crisps (potato chips in AmE)). However, according to the author, few people will in fact succeed in this way.
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Thanks a lot, Blue Jay.
Then, Does 'a take' in 'a take on the future' mean 'an opinion' as in 'What's your take on this issue?'
Then, Does 'a take' in 'a take on the future' mean 'an opinion' as in 'What's your take on this issue?'
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