He'd never so much as held a vacuum cleaner

[pokl.zhou]

Hi, I encounter this in a sci-fi, and could only vaguely understand the meaning. Can anyone please rewrite the sentence in a more complete way, please?
"Quince was a salesman, but he'd never so much as held a vacuum cleaner or driven a car. What he sold was much more precious. "
I am particularly thrown off by the part I used as the title of this thread.


Thanks,

 

[futuromadrileño]

The "so much as" is only for emphasis. The sentence could be rewritten as "He'd never held a vacuum cleaner," which implies that what he actually sells is probably much more advanced and perhaps rare.

 

[Loob]

Hello, pokl.zhou - welcome to the forums!

You could 'translate' your sentence as:
Quince was a salesman, but he'd never even held a vacuum cleaner or driven a car.

 

[pokl.zhou]

Got it, thanks.
The "held" inspired a passive voice to me, that 's what made me so confused.

 

[Fabulist]

Vacuum cleaners are, or used to be, one of the products stereotypically sold by door-to-door salesmen, who needed to drive automobiles to get from neighborhood to neighborhood and house to house. That Quince had never even held a vacuum cleaner or driven a car would seem to belie his status as a "salesman."

 

[pokl.zhou]

Thanks Fabulist in advance,

 

[Myridon]

I think he's comparing him to both a vacuum salesman and a car salesman rather than comparing him to a vacuum salesman who drives.