Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hanygeorge38]

Dear Bud,

In the following please explain to me what is meant by (glitzy surface,
financial whizzkids, a bedsit in a *beep* street)


Beneath the glitzy surface, the financial whizzkids of the world are mostly
on the road to alcoholism, lonliness, a bedsit in a *beep* street or sometimes all three
_________________
hany

[bud]

Hi Hany,

How are you these days? Good, I trust!

glitzy surface - It's meant to describe the superficial things about a person (in this case, a person). The stereotype of a financial whizzkid is that he/she drives an expensive car, wears expensive clothes, owns a fancy home, eats at exclusive restaurants, etc. It may awe us, but it tells us nothing about the person's character.

financial whizzkid - the financial professionals who excel and make a lot of money. (Anyone who excels at a certain thing could be called a whizzkid.)

a bedsit... - I've never heard the word or the expression, but it looks to be what is called an "efficiency apartment" or an SRO (single room occupancy) in the U.S. The expression is apparently a metaphor for financial ruin.

[Blossom]

I thought a bedsit is a single rented room which has a bed in the sitting room.

If you can only afford a bedsit you are not very rich. But what is a *beep* street?

[bud]

Yes that's what it is, with a very minimal kitchen, too.

Whenever you see *beep* in here, it is a word that was censored by the site's censoring software. All we know is that it was a "naughty" word.

[Blossom]