I want to ask about the meaning of a sentence.
RICHARD: Ah. Speaking of which, I’m going to give that man a call.
ALAN: Richard, you’re getting yourself all worked up.
RICHARD: As long as I’ve been with this company, it has been run by gentlemen. Revising a man’s work without so much as a phone call would’ve been unheard of!
The sentence that I don't understand is "Revising a man's work … would've been unheard of!". I guess Richard is saying that giving a phone call is not a big deal. But I am not exactly know how to analyze the sentence. First, what does "so much as" mean here? I find two meaning for phrase. Merriam- Webster says it means "even" and Cambridge says it means "but rather". Which is more suitable here? Second, what does Richard mean when he says "would've been unheard of!"?
Best Answer
"Without so much as a ___" means that an action was performed without the bare minimum of response. "He took all of my birthday cake without so much as a thank you!" (He probably should have done much more than say thank you, but at least that!)
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/without-so-much-as
for something to be "unheard of" means it's out of the realm of possibility. "Why, for a bride to wear a bathing suit to her wedding? That's unheard of!"
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/unheard-of
All together:
"This company used to be run by nice people. Now, someone is revising this man's work and not even bothering to do the bare minimum of giving him a phone call to tell him! That never would have happened in the past!"