Spiv: 骗子,票贩子
先来看段世界杯花絮:“‘他们’身穿橙黄色的荷兰队服,安静地站在树荫底下,把差不多20多张球票像扑克牌那样摊开在自己肚子前。”猜一猜“他们”是谁?——您一定会说,能窝有这么多球票的人,一定非“黄牛”莫属了。英语中,“黄牛、票贩子”常用scalper来形容,今天讲的spiv也可表达此意,不过是英国俚语的一种用法。 Spiv(黄牛)源于二战,当时,交战各国都把主要精力投用于生产军事物资,导致战争时期或交战之后部分生活用品奇缺——如果看过George Owell(乔治·奥维尔)的“1984”,您该明白对参战国的民众来说,一块巧克力或一件尼龙制品都被认为是奢侈消费品。由此,spiv(黄牛)应运而生,指专门从事黑市交易的人。 关于辞源,一种说法认为,spiv可能源于VIPs(大人物、高官显贵),瞧,把spiv倒过来写不就是单词VIPs嘛!对这种观点,语言学家不置可否。正统辞源学认为,spiv(黄牛)可能来自于罗马尼亚语spiv(麻雀)或英国方言spif(花花公子、纨绔子弟)。随着时间的推移,spiv词义也逐渐扩大,常用来泛指“游手好闲、不务正业的骗子和懒汉”。看下面一个例句: Don't pin your faith on his promises; he is known to be a spiv.(不要相信他的承诺,大家都知道他是个骗子。)
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