Tuesday, September 20, 2016

What does "drink like a professional" mean in this context?


Scott Fitzgerald




always drank like a professional, collapsing the arc from charming to churlish early on.



This sentence is from a review by P. Green of ’Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald’ in The NY Times.


Does it mean he drank a lot and alcohol turned him "from charming to churlish"? I am not sure.


And how to understand “early on” here?



Answer



I think you have answered it yourself. It sounds correct to me. I think it means he drinks a lot and shortly after beginning to drink reaches from a good mood (after drinking a little!) to a bad mood (after continuing to drink), from feeling charming to become rough and violent.


Early on means "hortly after the beginning."


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