字幕表 動画を再生する
Hi this is tutor Nick P and this is lesson 301. Today we're going to look at
the difference between notorious and infamous. Actually this one really is
more difficult than usual. Because clearly both words mean famous for
something bad and I do even think that there's a lot of even native speakers
that you kind of use them interchangeably and don't see much of a
difference. But from research I can find some subtle differences where some
might be more likely to be used in one situation than another. So that's what
I'll cover here. All right. Well first of all, of course, notorious means you know
well-known for something bad. Something discreditable you know, something that
would bring down your reputation basically. Make your reputation or your
image seem worse. Let's continue here. Some dictionaries claim notorious is
more likely to use for people in the present time. So if you're still alive
right now and you're talking about somebody that's still alive right now,
like a notorious a bank robber for example. We'd probably be more likely to
say a notorious bank robber than an infamous bank robber. That's , that's you
know robbing banks right now in the present time or the recent past. Not too
long ago. Okay. Infamous tends to be used more for former times. You know maybe
more like a hundred or several hundred years ago or possibly even thousands of
years ago. It's a little more likely. So there's some subtle differences where
you're more likely to see one than the other. But again since it's so close and
so since a lot of native speakers almost think of them as the same. Don't be
surprised if you see examples that would go against what they say here. Okay. Let
me continue. Though some other experts claim infamous is stronger and that it
carries a connotation of evil or wicked. Remember connotation that means those
are feelings that's connected to the word. So I think in situations where
we're saying somebody's famous for something bad
in kind of an evil or wicked way. infamous would be more likely used
That's what they're saying. When using infamous , the speaker is often
making a moral judgment too. That they're judging how terrible they are. Some
dictionaries claim infamous is more literary than notorious. It means that
you're more likely to see it written than spoken.
That's what literary means. So you'll see it in older articles or written articles.
You know, old books or historical documents or whatever than notorious . And
let's look at some examples which would you know, reflect the these, these notes
or these tips here. She is notorious for being late. All right. Well this is probably
present time. This is bad. It's, it hurt somebody's reputation, not particularly
evil. So we wouldn't normally say she is infamous for being late. We're a little
more likely to say she is notorious for being late. Lawyers are notorious for not
being truthful, even though to be honest that's probably part of their job too.
But still they got a bad reputation for that and a lot of people often joke
about how you can't trust lawyers and lawyers always lie. Okay. And again
this is a little more likely to be present time too The Paris Metro is
notorious for pickpockets. Yeah. It's got a bad reputation. That it's had a lot of
pickpockets over the years on the Metro, on there you known Subway's system. So
again, this is more like present time. This is also bad. This is a crime. I don't
know if I would put it in the I don't think I'd say the wicked or evil
category. But it's still bad. It still hurts somebody's reputation. Let's look
at number four. Dracula or Vald the Impaler. Yeah. This is actually some
people say this is where I guess Brahm Stroker. Was he the first one that
wrote the first Dracula ? Where he kind of got the name from. This, this was actually
a real prince who was very , very evil. Vlad the Impaler.
I think he used to like to impale his victims I think he crucified them and
stabbed them. And they were stories about where maybe he might like drink some of
their blood and dip bread in their blood. So yeah. That sounds a bit evil and
really pretty terrible. So you might you would you might be a
little more likely to use infamous and he was hundreds of years ago too. It was a
long time ago. So for several reasons infamous would probably be more likely
to be used here. So Dracula or Vlad the Impaler was infamous for the way he
tortured his enemies or killed them. mm-hmm And the last one here. Benedict Arnold was
an infamous traitor. Yeah. This was during the Revolutionary War.
Benedict Arnold was always famous for that. So somebody might be making a moral
judgment against him.He betrayed the country. Betrayed you know, the people he
was supposed to be with so again and this was also you know hundreds at least
about you know , several hundred years ago. So okay. Well anyway, I hope you can see
somewhat of a difference like I said it's a little tough because in even in
some native people's minds they don't often see a big difference between these
two. But these are just some hints where one is more likely to be used than the
other. Anyway, I hope you got it. I hope it's clear. Thank you for your time. Bye-bye.