| 释义 |
idiot savant, n.
Brit. |ˌɪdɪət ˈsavnt|, U.S. |ˈɪdiət səˈvɑn(t)|, |ˈɪdiət sɑˈvɑnt|, |ˈɪdiət səˈvɑnt|
Plural idiot savants, idiots savants
[Apparently > n. + savant wise (see savant n.). The phrase is rare in French, where it probably echoes use in English; quot. 1870 is however by a person of French origin living in the United States.
In plural form idiots savants after the usual pattern of plurals in French.]
A person with generally impaired intellectual and social functions who is extremely gifted in a particular way, freq. as a musician or in the performance of rapid and complex mental arithmetic. Hence in weakened sense: a naive or simple person who displays natural wisdom or insight.
1870E. Seguin Concerning Idiocy 17 It is from this [wealthy] class almost exclusively that we have musical, mathematical, architectural, and other varieties of the idiot savant; useless protrusion of a single faculty, accompanied by a woful general impotence. 1915Washington Post 4 July 2/4 He is a genius, yet he cannot take care of himself in the outside world except under supervision. He is what is known as an idiot-savant. 1962Brit. Jrnl. Philos. Sci. 13 99 It is tempting to compare our artificial opponent..with an extreme form of ‘idiot savant’—prodigiously able to play a calculating game, but devoid of the capacity for normal dialogue. 1995R. D. Gross Psychol. (ed. 2) xxviii. 852 A substantial minority of idiots savants are also autistic but they constitute a very varied group with little in common. 2000A. Bourdain Kitchen Confid. (2001) 238 Adam..may be the enemy of polite society.., but the man can bake. He's an idiot-savant with whom God has serious, frequent and intimate conversations. |