"Judged by the pace of growth, [the world economy] is in rude health."

So reads the second sentence of the first leader in this weeks Economist. Would you say that meant the economy was weak or robust?

My vote goes to robust.

Bingley

And native speakers of American English?

I've never seen rude used this way and since they don't say if the pace of growth is fast or slow, it is pure guess-work.

Rude is generally used as a negative term so I guess that the rate is slow and not good.

rude good health is possitive..

it's the scrawny little kid, fed nothing but scraps, raised with no access to clean water or medical care, who grows up to be an athlete--and not just an athlete--but a champion.. Rude --that some little upstart, with no breeding or proper education, or proper parenting or proper lifestyle could compete and win --(especially when competing against his better's.

I've always heard, though I've never checked, that originally it was ruddy health, referring to red cheeks glowing after exercise. When ruddy began to be used as a swear word in some circles, ruddy health became rude health.

Bingley

Rude from Latin rudis 'untilled, wild, raw; rude'; ruddy from Old English rudig 'ruddy'. The two roots whence probably unrelated in PIE.

I was thinking of the particular expression 'rude health' rather than a general etymological connection between the two words.

Bingley

rather than

I see.

Thanks, all.

Here's the passage:

Is the world economiy in good or bad shape? Judged by the pace of growth, it is in rude health. Depsite soaring oil prices, the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook reckons that global output will grow by 4.3% both this year and next, well above its trend rate.

I took "rude health" to mean ill-health, so the optimisim of the sentence following took me by surprise. At the time, I wondered if this wasn't a bit of cleverness meant to underscore the difference in American and extra-American perspectives, but I've since decided no such subtlety was intended.

BTW, is there a specific name for a phrase begining with "despite," "in spite of," or some such?