There was the following sentence in the New York Times (February 8) article titled, “Azerbaijan is rich. It wants to be famous.”:
“Oil-rich, velvet-rope-poor Azerbaijan, a country about the size of
South Carolina on the Caspian Sea, would very much like to be the
world’s next party capital.”
Curiously enough, none of Oxford, Cambridge, Merriam-Webster online dictionary and English Japanese dictionaries at hand carries the word, 'velvet rope' under the heading of velvet as I checked, though some include 'velvet carpet' and 'velvet glove.'
I understand velvet ropes are seen in airports, hotels and event arenas as well as a red carpet to receive dignitaries and stars. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
It seems to me that Velvet, the symbol of the rich and Poor seem contradicting each other.
What does “velvet-rope-poor” mean?
Best Answer
Given the text says Azerbaijan wants to be the world’s next party capital, it's probably a reference to the velvet rope you often see outside swanky party venues where people are queueing to get in...
Saying they're currently velvet-rope-poor doesn't mean they can't afford velvet ropes - it means you won't see scenes like the above very often in Azerbaijan, because they don't have that kind of society. But they want it, because they want to become more "Westernised".
The construction XXXX rich, [but] YYYY poor is often used to contrast the abundance of XXXX with a lack of YYYY. It needn't necessarily have anything to do with economics. For example...
...is a sentiment which has often been expressed using the rich/poor juxtaposition.