英语自学网 发表于 2016-8-2 13:01:36

词语掌故:A Final D.A.R.E.(2/2)

概括:关于“美国地区英语词典”的故事
Hints:
potluck
pitch-in
Ben Zimmer
Boston Globe
Ms. Hall
D.A.R.E.
American Dialect Society
Joan
skillet
honeyfuggle
Pinkletink
Martha's Vineyard
Massachusetts
Puckerbrush
New England
swop
Annapolis
Maryland
Greensburg
Pennsylvania
New Year's Day
first-footer
flug
Yuck
校对:ldzh43
翻译:jushua
注解:ldzh43
组长:ldzh43
答疑:ldzh43http://t1.g.hjfile.cn/listen/201204/201204010854085986357.mp3For example, in some areas, Americans call a carbonated drink a soda; in others they call it pop. Some cook with a frying pan; others call it a skillet. And a party where everyone brings food is either a potluck or a pitch-in.
Linguist Ben Zimmer writes about language for the Boston Globe. He was not the only one excited at Ms. Hall's first public showing of the final D.A.R.E. volume. It was at a meeting of the American Dialect Society in January.
"We all gathered together in the conference room and Joan showed off volume five. And there were audible gasps in the room. I mean, it might as well have been accompanied by an angelic chorus. People just wanted to touch it like it was the holy relic or something."
So now, what about honeyfuggle and those other words? Honeyfuggle means to cheat or trick. The earliest uses found were in the 1800s in the South. Pinkletink is the name that people in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, have given to a kind of tree frog. Puckerbrush is what people in Northern New England call a tangled growth of bushes. And a swop is a small drink of liquor, at least in Annapolis, Maryland, and Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
Here are a few others. The first person to enter a home on New Year's Day is called a first-footer in some places. What do you call dust or lint that collects in pockets and under beds? Some Americans call it flug. And finally, getting the runaround is not a regional term; it means getting purposely delayed or lied to. But to some, runaround is an old term for a swelling or infection in a finger, especially around the nail. Yuck!例如,在美国某些地方,碳酸饮料被称为苏打(soda);在另外一些地方则被称为汽水(pop)。一些人用平底锅(frying pan)烹饪,而另一些称之为煎锅(skillet)。人人都能带食物去的派对叫做百乐餐(potluck)或者大吃会(pitch-in)。
语言学家本吉莫为波士顿环球报撰写关于语言的文章。他与其他人一样,对霍尔女士编著的美国地区英语词典最后一册的首次公开亮相感到兴奋无比。这是一月份在一次美国方言协会(American Dialect Society)的会议上:
“我们聚集在这个会议室里,当琼向我们展示美国地区英语词典的第五册时,房间里安静得能听到自己的呼吸。我的意思是,如果伴随着天使的合唱就更好了。人们想去触碰它,就好像它是圣物或者类似的东西。”
那么现在,honeyfuggle和其他的词又是什么意思呢?Honeyfuggle是指去欺骗或耍花招,其用法最初见于19世纪的南方。Pinkletink是住在马萨诸塞州玛莎葡萄园岛(Martha's Vineyard)的人给一种树蛙起的名字。新英格兰北部的人用puckerbrush来形容那儿的灌木丛长的横七竖八。Swop是指一小口酒,至少在马里兰州的安纳波利斯(Annapolis, Maryland)和宾夕法尼亚州的格林斯堡(Greensburg, Pennsylvania)是这样。
这里还有一些词。在一些地方,元旦那天第一个踏进家门的人叫做元旦日第一位访客(first-footer)。那么口袋里的线头,床底下的灰尘怎么说?一些美国人称之为flug。最后,推诿,搪塞(runaround)不是一个地方性的术语,它的意思是故意拖延或撒谎。但是对某些人来说,runaround由来已久,用来形容手指的肿胀或感染,特别是指甲附近。呃,好恶心!
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