Archive for January, 2008

Knock on wood

Sunday, January 27th, 2008

今天真开心。澳网的混双决赛和男单决赛都很精彩,而且都是我希望看到的结果,爽也!昨天的女单决赛虽然没有如我所愿,但不得不承认Sharapova的表现很好,这个冠军实至名归。而且她的得奖感言相当感人,值得加分!(可惜在网上找不到完整的文字版。)
从新闻里摘抄一部分相关内容:

In her trophy acceptance speech, Sharapova spoke in heartfelt terms about the death last year of her coach’s mother after a lengthy battle with cancer.
“It completely changed my perspective on life,” Sharapova said. “I think the reason for that is because it’s one of the closest people in my team, in my family, that passed […]

Drop the soap

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

前几天看The L Word的时候,听到里面的角色去监狱探望朋友时反复强调“Don’t drop the soap.”,有点莫名其妙。经人点拨才恍然大悟,原来涉及成人内容。

A remark made to someone being hauled off to jail, particularly someone you dislike. Once in jail, you imply that if the person (a male) drops a bar of soap in the shower, they will be forced to bend over and retrieve it. Thus, with their buttocks spread and in […]

News

Tuesday, January 8th, 2008

早就听说过news来源于north、east、west和south的首字母,因为来自四面八方的消息构成了“新闻”。一直觉得这理论不靠谱(虽然我挺希望它是真的),现在得到了证实。
People mention the points-of-the-compass story so often as the source of news that it’s not surprising it makes you wonder if it’s correct. For the record, it isn’t.
Where did this idea of its being an acronym come from? George A Thompson recently found the story falsely asserted in the Morning Courier & New-York Enquirer, dated […]

Say what?

Thursday, January 3rd, 2008

前两天翻杂志的时候,看到一篇叫The Waiting Game的文章,配的中文标题是“加塞儿?用钱来买!”愣是没看懂。看完文章,大致能猜到“加塞儿”就是插队的意思。估计是北京话,于是上网搜了一下,果不其然。
老北京的俗话“加塞”或“加塞儿”原先指的是在两个东西或更多东西间塞上一个东西,使它两边的东西挤到一边,这个东西俗称“塞子”这种情况称“加塞子”。现在,这个词的意思发生了质变,已经不是“在东西间加上个‘塞子’”的本意了,而是指排队时插队,或没轮到那个人那个人先来,看到这种情况,加塞者后边的人就会骂一句“缺德,加什么塞?”,使这个词由中性词变为贬义词。
借这个机会提醒下外研社的各位编辑,既然是全国性的杂志,还是尽量避开北京方言吧。当然,这个“加塞儿”应该是无心之过,可能相关的编辑根本就不知道一般人不懂这个词儿。就像我以前总以为“校门”(fly, aka zipper, 男性裤裆处的拉链)是全国通用的俗语,在书里提到“校门”的时候根本没想过要特别解释,多亏编辑提醒才知道这个词北方人不懂。所以,说到底还是那句话,语言是个奇妙的东西,不由得我们想当然。
Bonus video: Rihanna - Don’t Stop the Music