Language: Who’s the hottiest of them all?
“It’s quite a normal usage in British journalism,” she notes. “Pops up on the BBC often. We’re comfortable with it in a headline, where we use the vernacular more than in copy, especially when it fits the space.” Freeland adds: “We’re a global paper. It’s important for us to […]
很久以来，我一直以为same difference就是“相同的不同之处”的意思。比如你发现A和B的不同之处，你朋友发现了C和D的不同之处。一对比，你们意识到A与B的不同和C与D的不同是一样的，这就是same difference。
最近看的一本书里接连出现了好几个same difference的例子，但明显不是这种用法。从上下文可以判断出来，same difference就是same thing的意思。摘录其中两个：
A: I can’t make a copy of something from an employee’s file and send it on to the police.
B: Ex-employee.
A: Same difference.
A: Her boyfriend came and picked it up.
B: Ex-boyfriend.
A: Same difference.
查了下资料，找到了满意的答案。推荐阅读全文： The Mavens’ Word of the Day - same difference
最关键部分摘录如下：
The literal meaning is easy. The basic meanings of […]