Not a terribly good one

[Coffee Break]

Hello everyone. I encountered this expression, "Not a terribly good one", and I am wondering what it means in the following sentences:

“I see you’re an actor in civvy street.”
Careful.
“Yes, sir. Not a terribly good one, I’m afraid.”
“Author?”
“Nothing much, yet, sir.”

- William Golding, Pincher Martin, Chapter 7

This is a novel published in the United Kingdom in 1956. The novel mainly follows the state of mind of Christopher "Pincher" Martin, a temporary naval lieutenant who was apparently fighting to survive in the Atlantic after his military ship had sunk. Here, he had arrived at an island. He is now ill, and remembering the conversation with his superior about how he was considering to recommend Christopher for commission.

Here, I wonder what the underlined clause would mean.
I guess it could mean he is humbling himself by saying "I was not a very good actor."
But would "good" here mean that his acting skills were not enough? Or that his career was not successful...?

Also, I am confused about the combination of "terribly good," because I learned that "terribly" is a negative word, and "good" is a positive word.

I would very much appreciate your help.

 

[5jj]

I guess it could mean he is humbling himself by saying "I was not a very good actor."

It does.

But would "good" here mean that his acting skills were not enough? Or that his career was not successful...?

He was not a very competent actor.

 

[Coffee Break]

@5jj,

Thank you very much for the explanation.
So he is saying that he was not a very competent, skillful actor.
He is saying, "I was an actor, yes, but was not a very competent actor, and was not a very special author (=nothing much) either."
I sincerely appreciate your help.

 

[Tarheel]

You need to look at the whole phrase. (You need to get in the habit of doing that.)

It's a commonly used expression, with the adjective of choice varying from person to person. (See below.)

Considering that I wasn't really very good at it, I was paid quite well for that job.

I wasn't terribly good at it, but I had fun doing it.

There are many possibilities.

 

[probus]

He is being typically modest and self-effacing. The British detest and despise boastfulness, so they tend to go to the opposite extreme.

 

[Tdol]

He's being modest, especially because he wants the superior officer to recommend him for promotion, and snobs might look down on actors.

 

[Coffee Break]

@Tarheel, @probus and @Tdol,

Thank you very much for the explanations.
So he is saying that he was not a very competent actor, and a very excellent author, in an effort to be modest, because he wants to look good to his superior for promotion.
I truly appreciate your help.

 

[emsr2d2]

Where did you get the idea that he's saying he's a "very excellent author" (don't use "very excellent" by the way) from the original dialogue?

 

[5jj]

Also, I am confused about the combination of "terribly good," because I learned that "terribly" is a negative word, and "good" is a positive word.

Adverbs such as terribly, frighftully and awfully were quite common once as intensifiers to mean extremely. They sound rather dated nowadays.

 

[Coffee Break]

@emsr2d2 and @5jj,

Thank you very much for the explanations.
So "terribly" is an intensifier which was used back then to mean "extremely"!

Where did you get the idea that he's saying he's a "very excellent author" (don't use "very excellent" by the way) from the original dialogue?

Actually, I thought so because he said he was "nothing much" of an author, however (=yet). Was that incorrect...?

 

[Tarheel]

Whether it's positive or negative, that's an opinion based on the person's own perspective. It's better, in my opinion, to base your opinion on what you have read by that person.