top-notch 的詞源

此外 top notch，“質量最好，最時尚的”，始於1840年左右的一個流行短語，由 top （形容詞）和 notch （名詞）組成。比喻某事物的“最高點”，但確切的機械形象不確定，並且似乎從未被提及。當時它是傘專利中的一部分的名字。

If a young blade drives his vehicle so as to pass others who are in his party, he is said to "tip them the go by."—If his dress consists of articles which are "all the rage," he is "quite the top notch." It is remarkable that these and similar phrases are most in use among people who claim distinction in the fashionable world. [Boston Weekly Magazine, June 12, 1841]

如果一位年輕的精英駕駛車輛以使超過團隊中其他人，就稱之爲“tip them the go by"。 ——如果他的着裝包括“all the rage”物品，他就是“quite the top notch”。值得注意的是，這些和類似的短語在聲稱在時尚界卓越的人們中最常用。[波士頓週刊，1841年6月12日]

Malgre the dislike of others to an extensive cultivation of cranial shrubbery, I consider long hair an honor unto a man, his glory and his charm. The beauty of the willow is its branches. Deprived of these and all its gracefulness has departed. The tassel of some vegetables is the top notch of their loveliness. ["Long Hair" in Rural Repository (Hudson, N.Y.), July 18, 1840]

Malgre 儘管他人可能不太喜歡種植頭頂的灌木叢，我認爲長髮是男人的榮耀和魅力。柳樹的美在其樹枝。如果沒有了樹枝，它所有的優雅就都失去了。蔬菜的一些部位，如穗，是它們美麗的頂點。 [《鄉村倉庫》（紐約哈德遜），1840年7月18日]