战争往往给语言留下深刻的痕迹。当战火停息,一切恢复正常以后,一些带火药味的词汇经常会变成人们日常的用语来形容那些和战场没有太大关系的人或事物。
有的俗语甚至还反映了两百年前打仗的形式,例如,美国人经常会说某个人是一个:loose cannon。大家都知道, loose 是松散的意思,而 cannon 是指大炮。 Loose cannon 的来历是几百年前当人们在海上作战时,他们往往在船上放好些大炮,每一座大炮放在一个带四个轮子的平台上。在战争间隙的时候,船员们用很粗的绳子把这些大炮拴住,不让它们随便移动。可是,当风暴来临,这些绳子在风浪的冲击下断了以后,大炮就会在甲板上到处滚动,会把那些不幸就在大炮旁边的船员轧死,这比真正的敌人还要危险。
现在,loose cannon 的意思和打仗并没有什么关系。人们把 loose cannon 用来指“一个失去控制、无视权威、打破常轨的人,这种人往往会伤害和他自己站在一边的人。例如,有些美国政府官员在重大问题上擅自采取行动,也不向总统汇报。国会议员就把这些人称为 loose cannon。下面的例子是一个政治家在谈论一个要为他竞选连任参加工作的人:
"I know this guy is a smart political worker. But he's hard to control. In fact, he's a loose cannon who might do more damage to our side than the man I'm running against."
这句话的意思是:“我知道这家伙在政治工作方面很聪明。但是,这个人很难控制。实际上,他就像一个没有约束的大炮,给我们造成的危害可能会比我竞选对手造成的危害更大。
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