研究生的筆記本

難搞的

（脾氣差、容易被冒犯、愛抱怨的）

簡單形容詞: bad-tempered, irritable, grumpy, grouchy

進階形容詞: 

cantankerous (adj.) 愛爭吵且抱怨不休的　

Definition: difficult or irritating to deal with

不專業記法: 開坦克

Example: Contemporaries often found him aloof, standoffish, and cantankerous and his mannerisms and diction inscrutable.
— Jonathan Spence, New York Review of Books, 22 Oct. 2009

peevish (adj.)

Definition: easily annoyed, perversely obstinate (病態的固執)

Example1: peevish patients in the doctor's waiting room

Example2: The dark country is one of the last nominally Communist nations in the world—a Stalinist personality cult centered on Kim Jong Un, the peevish, ruthless scion of the dynasty that has ruled North Korea since 1948, after the peninsula was divided.
— Robert Hackett, Fortune, 20 Apr. 2021

petulant (adj.) 沒禮貌的

Definition: insolent or rude in speech or behavior

Example1: Sometimes, under rapid-fire questioning, he became petulant and quibbled over words in a way that suggested a close reading of the law.
— Frances FitzGerald, New Yorker, 16 Oct. 1989

curmudgeon (n.)

Definition: a crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old man

Example1: Oh, he had the reputation for being a curmudgeon, and he didn't suffer fools gladly, and often he seemed to have no tolerance for people at all.
— Robertson Davies, The Lyre of Orpheus, 1989

好鬥的：

aggressive, combative, belligerent, pugnacious, truculent

以上幾個單字雖然中文都翻譯為「好鬥的」或「好戰的」，但使用情境略為不同

pugnacious (adj.) : 愛爭吵的、愛爭鬥的

Definition: having a quarrelsome or combative nature; pugnacious suggests a disposition that takes pleasure in personal combat

pugnacious 所指的好鬥不是控制不住自己跟別人吵架的那種脾氣差，而是天性喜歡挑起爭端、找麻煩。

Example1: He was a short man with heavy shoulders, a slight potbelly, puffy blue eyes, and a pugnacious expression.
— Alice Munro, New Yorker, 2 Jan. 1989

belligerent (adj.) : 好戰的 (引申為參戰的、交戰的)

比起指個性容易跟人起衝突的 pugnacious 或 quarrelsome, belligerent 通常指真的有動手或真的有惡意(being actually at war or engaged in hostilities)，是一個比較重的字。

字根 bell 是與戰爭有關的，例如 rebellious 反抗的，postbellum 戰後的，還有佛地魔手下頭號食死人 Bellatrix 的名字，都用到這個字根。

Example1: The belligerent countries are having difficulties funding the war. 交戰國均缺乏戰爭資金。

Example2: Amber Heard Accuses‘Belligerent’Johnny Depp of Sexual Assault

bellicose (adj.) :

Definition: a disposition to fight 準備好戰鬥姿態的、一副想打架的，帶有一些挑釁意味

Example1: a drunk in a bellicose mood

Example2: The general made some bellicose statements about his country's military strength.

truculent (adj.): 尋釁的

Manhattan Prep教的連想法: GRE Vocab Word of the Day: Truculent | Manhattan Prep

Picture a big, violent tough truck. 

belligerent, pugnacious, bellicose 都是指「血氣之勇」的好鬥，truculent引申出更為負面的意思，有存心想使他人痛苦的含意。

所以除了挑起爭端之外，也可指言語羞辱人的。

Definition: feeling or displaying eagerness to fight;  marked by harsh insulting language; having or showing the desire to inflict severe pain and suffering on others

Example1: die-hard fans who became truculent and violent after their team's loss

Example2: a theater critic who was notorious for his titanically truculent reviews

Example3: played the role of a disturbed and truculent villain

contentious (adj.)

contentious 形容論點、政策時指「有爭議的」，形容人則指「好爭論的」、「愛起爭議的」

Definition:  causing or likely to cause disagreement; contentious implies perverse and irritating fondness for arguing and quarreling.