petty
2019.12.14
Meaning:
‘petty’ means ‘small’. We can use it many ways. ‘Petty cash’ means the small amount of money that an office keeps to pay for pens and stamps etc. ‘Petty crime’ means stealing food from a shop or stealing cash from a wallet (that is, not a serious crime like murder). We also use petty to describe a small personality. A petty person gets emotional about small issues. For example, if I am two minutes late for dinner a petty person might cancel the whole dinner. Some US comedians say President Trump is petty for his negative tweets about 16-year-old Greta Thunberg.
Example:
A: Julie just told me she hates me and she never wants to see me again!
B: What? Why?
A: I’m wearing a red dress, like she is. It’s her birthday party and she says she told me she would wear red. But I don’t remember her telling me…
B: Oh my God. That’s so petty! Who cares what colour dresses we all wear?
Talking Point(s):
Have you experienced petty behaviour recently?
大人からの英会話getgo 西船橋・荻窪・津田沼・本八幡