Crotchety: 钩子;怪念头
伴着冬天的远去,厚厚的棉衣也得从衣橱隐退,取而代之的则是各色漂亮的针织毛衣。在英语中,"织"可以用动词knit来表示,如:Mother is knittinga sweater(妈妈正在织毛衣)。但如果想要强调毛衣是用"钩针"编织的,则要借用动词crochet。今天讲的crotchety(想法奇特的,性子暴躁的)就与crochet(钩针编织)有关系。
Crotchety的名词形式是crotchet,据语言学家记载,crotchet(钩子;怪念头)来源于法语词crochet(钩子)。但到16世纪,crotchet在原词义的基础上又被赋予了另一次含意――an odd whim or peculiar notion(一时兴起的怪念头)。究其原因,一种逻辑推理认为:怪诞想法产生时,大脑的思维活动就像钩针编织法一样,是对常物的一种"扭曲",由此,到19世纪, "full of crotchets"或"crotchety"常被用来形容"某人怪异"。 随着时间的推移,人们又发现,那些满脑充斥怪念头的人由于不被社会所理解,常常脾气暴躁,满腹牢骚,由此,crotchety的第二层引申意"暴躁的,易怒的,乱发脾气的"开始得到认同并被大家广泛使用。举个例子:It seems that he is in crotchety opposition to his father(看样子,他是憋足了劲儿,要和他父亲对着干)。
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