[Vocabulary] Good-looking and Bashed-up

[demex]

I am reading a bestseller 2019 book Silent Patient and came across with the understanding problem: What does the underlined sentence mean? I know bashed-up means beaten up, but how can one be "good-looking" while beaten-up?

A couple of faces were familiar to me—Christian, for instance. I had known him at Broadmoor. A rugby-playing psychiatrist with a broken nose and a dark beard. Good-looking in a bashed-up kind of way. He’d left Broadmoor soon after I arrived. I didn’t like Christian much, but to be fair I hadn’t known him well, as we didn’t work together for long.

Thanks.

 

[jutfrank]

That's up to you to imagine.

 

[demex]

Thanks for the reply.

If my understanding of the language itself is correct, I think I know now what to expect of its Chinese meaning.

 

[Skrej]

It's more like he's still good-looking despite having some visible damage.

Plus, some people think that things like scars and minor physical defects make a man look more attractive. Instead of being a pretty-boy, it gives him a certain sense of ruggedness.

 

[demex]

I think the closest Chinese translation should be 沧桑 or 沧海桑田，meaning one who has experienced the vicissitudes of life.

Thank you all for the above help.

 

[Tdol]

Handsome, but not smooth and sophisticated.

 

[jutfrank]

The reason he looks bashed up is that he plays rugby.

 

[emsr2d2]

I am reading [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] the 2019 bestseller [STRIKE]2019 book[/STRIKE] Silent Patient and came across [STRIKE]with the understanding[/STRIKE] a problem with understanding something. What does the underlined sentence mean? I know "bashed-up" means "beaten up", but how can one be "good-looking" while beaten no hyphen here up? space here Thanks.

Note my corrections above.

 

[Tarheel]

I think the closest Chinese translation should be 沧桑 or 沧海桑田，meaning one who has experienced the vicissitudes of life.

You didn't learn Chinese by translating everything into something else, did you?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

The English words do not in themselves imply that the 'bashed-up' look is a result of the vicissitudes of life.

Actually, I thought that was an elegant way of expressing it. What is getting bashed up if not a vicissitude of life?