For what it’s worth
美国人对Paris Hilton的痴迷实在是很有意思的现象。昨天晚上Saturday Night Live重播了她主持的那期，我上次没看到，这回正好补上。发觉她也不是一无是处，至少演技和搞笑本领比Donald Trump强很多。
扯远了，现在切入正题。昨天的那集SNL连续出现了七八次for what it’s worth，似乎是在暗示我该有所行动。找了半天，总算发现一本字典收录了for what it’s worth条目。定义是：Even though it may not be important or valuable. 给出的例句是：Here’s my advice, for what it’s worth.
我总觉得这个定义不够深入，例子也不够具体，所以又在网上搜寻了一番，找到个比较满意的解释。
It has a slightly flippant connotation. It means, for lack of a better explanation, “take this information and do what you like with it”.
完全说出了我想表达的意思，建议大家就这么记: for what it’s worth = take what I have to say and do what you like with it。虽然在给别人提建议时比较常用（For what it’s worth, here’s my advice…），但不仅仅局限于此，比如：
A: I’m so sad they’ve decided to cancel the show. （他们就这么决定把片子给砍了，我好伤心。）
B: For what it’s worth, you are not alone. （至少伤心的不止你一个，好歹也算安慰。）
另外，在给建议的时候用for what it’s worth，注意这段话：
… the idea seems to play something down, to imply that the message is not so important, not necessarily accurate (it is just your opinion after all), or to try to fool someone into thinking it doesn’t matter to you. I suppose it must be useful when you want to give someone a piece of advice and don’t want him/her to think that you might be hurt if your advice isn’t followed.