英语阅读：有趣的willy-nilly
Reader question: “He recognized that you can't just abrogate contractswilly-nilly, but he moved to do what could be done.”
Could you please explain willy-nilly?
My comments: Ah, yes. Willy-nilly. It’s a fun phrase to say and looks and
sounds a bit odd. It’s not a phrase you will hear very often, and if you do, it
will most likely come from the lips of a British person.
Willy-nilly means something done at random and in a scattered way, all over
the place or erratically. The original saying of the phrase was will I nill I or
will ye nill ye or will he nill he. You can clearly see the similarity in the
word origin of the phrase and in its current spelling. Also, as with many words
and phrases in the English language, willy-nilly comes from the Latin nolens
volens. Nolens means "being unwilling" and volens means "being willing" or
"wanting".
The phrase was used in the popular (and very funny) UK comedy series The
Office in Series One, Episode 2. David Brent’s character, played by British
comedian and actor Ricky Gervais, scolds an office worker after making a
derogatory remark about a new female employee in the office with the comment:
“"I will not have her…banded around this office willy-nilly".
Madonna, someone who isn’t British but sometimes thinks she is, was quoted
as using willy-nilly when referring to a dinner she once attended with Prince
Charles: “He's very relaxed at the table, throwing his salad
around willy-nilly. I didn't find him stiff at all.”
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