Take a country full of people who frequently loathe each other, then impose a social system of extreme politeness to ensure nobody can ever say what they mean without offending somebody else – and you’ll start to understand why these British insults are so unnecessarily weird.
如果有一个国家的人们总是互相嫌弃,而在社会上又无与伦比地礼貌,没人想去开门见山地得罪别人,这极大程度上是种矛盾——看了这个解析,你就会懂得为什么下面这些拐弯抹角的英式奚落方法这么奇怪了。
“BLOWING HIS OWN TRUMPET”
自吹自擂
This, of course, refers to the ancient English practice of having a trumpet blown when somebody important arrived at court. The implication is that the person being insulted thinks he’s important, but in actual fact is so unimportant that he has no-one to blow a trumpet to announce his arrival; embarrassingly, he has to announce his own importance by ‘blowing his own trumpet’. Really, this is reflective of how much the British hate the smarminess of self-promotion, which is probably why we all feel so uneasy about going into sleazy banking jobs.
此说法当然来自古代英国的风俗——凡是有贵人驾到宫廷,必奏小号(trumpet)。个中内涵是被侮辱的那人自以为很重要,但其实微不足道,没有人为他吹小号来迎驾;令人尴尬的是,他得“自吹自擂”来广告自己有多重要。这个短语反应了英国人有多讨厌油腔滑调的自荐行为,这就是大家都抵触进入金融行业的原因吧。
“THINKS HE’S GOD’S GIFT”
觉得自己是上帝的礼物
As I revealed in another article for KanDongSee, most of Britain’s insults come from Christian references, and here we see another example. God gave humankind many gifts, but it’s pretty pompous to assume that you’re one of them. The phrase is usually said of a man who thinks he is “God’s gift to women” (and he probably blows his own trumpet about it), and subtlyundermines the man in question is a classically British fashion. He will no doubt return home to curl into a ball and flounder in his own tears.
我在看东西另一篇文章中曾披露,大多英式的奚落方式来自基督教,这条也不例外。上帝给予了人们许多礼物,但要是你觉得自己就是其中之一,就不只是一点点的浮夸了。这个说法一般用在男人身上,这人认为自己是“上帝给女人的礼物”(这些人应该也会自吹自擂),而经典的英式做法就是用这句话微妙地贬低他。你这一说,他肯定会灰溜溜地回家,蜷成一团嚎啕大哭的。
“EGGHEAD”
蛋头
If there’s one thing the British love more than slyly insulting each other, it’s food – so it’s not surprising that they’ve combined the two things into one (also note “bad apple”, “sour grapes” and “couch potato”). An “egghead” is an annoyingly intelligent person, so-called because smart people are thought to have larger heads which look like upside-down eggs. If they get much more big-headed, they might end up scrambled.
除了拐弯抹角地骂人,英国人最喜欢的就要数食物了——所以他们把两样合并起来也不足为奇了(此外还有“bad apple(坏苹果)”, “sour grapes(酸葡萄)”and “couch potato(沙发土豆)”)。“蛋头”用来描述一个极为讨厌的聪明人,说他是蛋是因为大家觉得聪明人的头都比常人大,而且看起来像是倒置的蛋。如果他们头再大一点就会被炒来吃掉了吧。
“GOT A FEW SCREWS LOOSE”
几个螺丝钉松了
This common put-down has a number of siblings, including “few spanners short of a toolbox”, “few cards short of a deck”, “not the brightest crayon in the box”, “the light’s on but no one’s home” and my personal favourite: “fell out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down”. All of these link to the easily-imagined idea that stupid people are somehow missing bits of their brain. It’s certainly a more comfortable way for the British upper class to think about it – it means they don’t have to bother reforming the education system again.
这个常见的骂人方式还有几个亲戚,包括“few spanners short of a toolbox(工具箱里少了几个扳手)”, “few cards short of a deck (一副牌里少了几张)”, “not the brightest crayon in the box(不是盒子里最鲜艳的蜡笔)”, “the light’s on but no one’s home(空房子里亮着灯)”, 还有我自己最喜欢的:“fell out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down(从笨树上掉下来的时候还撞到了每个树枝)”。所有这些说法都和同一个想当然的主要思想有关——傻人脑子里缺根筋。这样想对英国上层阶级人士来说可能是件好事,这说明他们就不必大费周章地改革教育系统了。
“I DO DESIRE WE MAY BE BETTER STRANGERS”
我们最好做陌生人
Admittedly, this isn’t too commonly heard these days, but this brilliant put-down from Shakespeare’s As You Like It was too good to miss. Said by Orlando, this excellent little quip is so cleverly worded you might think you were being complimented if you weren’t paying attention. The play actually has a wealth of put-downs that encapsulate the British idiom – consider “Let’s meet as little as we can”, “By my troth, I was seeking for a fool when I found you”, or the oddly scathing “Truly thou art damned, like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side.”
虽然现在并不常用, 但这个源于莎翁作品《皆大欢喜》的绝妙说法, 不提一下太可惜了。作为剧中奥兰多的台词,这句嘲讽的修辞简直聪明绝顶,你不注意还以为对方在夸你呢。此剧中有诸多包含英国谚语的奚落方式,比如“Let’s meet as little as we can(让我们尽可能少见面吧)”,“By my troth, I was seeking for a fool when I found you(我发誓,我在找一个傻瓜,不料遇到了你)”,或者像下面这难得尖刻的一句“Truly thou art damned, like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side(你真该死,就像一个煎坏了的蛋,一面全焦了)”。
Bored at work? Sue the boss! 工作无聊怪老板?
To turn something upside down 把……翻个底朝天
Until I'm blue in the face 任凭你磨破嘴皮
Going forward 从今往后
Axe to grind 别有用心
One good turn deserves another 以德报德,礼尚往来
Hot potato 棘手的问题“烫手山芋”
To make a mountain out of a molehill 小题大做
In the blink of an eye 一眨眼之间
It's on the cards 这件事十有八九会发生
Burn a hole in your pocket 有钱不花难受
Close, but no cigar 几近成功
A recipe for disaster 后患无穷
Glass-bottomed bridge, cancer risk for HRT and 120-year-old man 世界最长玻璃桥开放,荷尔蒙替代疗法增患癌风险,印度教120岁僧人
You're pulling my leg! 你在愚弄我!
To make a monkey out of me 捉弄我
To fall at the first hurdle 跌倒在第一关
Bust a gut 拼了命地工作
Cyclists make Olympic history, 400-year-old shark 英国自行车运动员创英奥运历史,400岁格陵兰鲨鱼
Test the water 试探,摸底
It takes two to tango 一个巴掌拍不响
Old-school 老一套,老派
Reunion? Count me out! 重聚? 别算上我!
A cashless society 无现金社会
To lie through your teeth 睁眼说瞎话
White / blue-collar worker 白领,蓝领
Barefaced 厚颜无耻的
The university of life 生活经历
Get someone's goat 火冒三丈
Are you addicted to your phone? 你是不是玩手机上瘾了?
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