My stars and garters!
据统计,凡夫俗子平均每天会迸出至少一句惊叹语:天啊!上帝啊! 习惯了My goodness或My God,偶尔听到外国人惊呼My stars and garters,颇感怪异。
由星星和勋章组合而成的天啊是美国用语,不过,它的原产地可是在英国。
Garter原指嘉德勋章,是英国王室授給爵士的最高勋位。由于爵士们的勋章大都是星星形状,所以到18世纪,短语stars and garters开始被人们使用,当时用来指代各种类似的勋章。随着时间的推移,stars and garters慢慢成了荣誉的代名词,同时,也用来形容被授予类似荣誉的群体,比如:汉语中的侯门就可以用stars and garters来表示。
到19世纪,甚至连语言学家都感到惊奇,stars and garters(荣誉)竟然摇身一变,成了挂在人们口边的My stars and garters!(天啊!)。与My goodness或My God相比,My stars(and garters)戏谑、幽默的成分更强烈。
瞧下面这句话,选自英国讽刺大师萨克雷的The book of snobs(《势利人脸谱》):
O! stars and garters! how she would start if she heard that she-she, as solemn as Minerva-she, as chaste as Diana -that she too was a Snob!(天啊,她如智慧女神那般神圣,如月亮女神那般纯洁如果听到有人说自己是个势力小人,会是何等惊讶!)
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