Could you explain “city slicker”?

A city slicker is a slang term for someone who feels most at home in an urban environment and would feel uncomfortable or out of their depth in rural surrounds. They are so accustomed to life in the city, with its buzz of supermarkets, restaurants, traffic, nightlife and high-rise buildings, that they have little comprehension of what life in the country is like.

Sometimes, when we refer to someone as being a city slicker, we mean it in a derogatory way. We are implying the person exhibits some of the less attractive qualities of city dwellers – they are superficial, materialistic, smooth talkers, or arrogant, for example.

To get a better understanding of the term, hunt out the 1991 American comedy film City Slickers, which stars Billy Crystal as an urbanite who, suffering a midlife crisis, leaves the bright lights of the city to holiday on a farm.

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本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Kim Bowden hails from Auckland, New Zealand, where she recently completed AUT University’s Postgraduate Journalism Diploma.