一些有趣的观察...

经常有人不用 "Have a good day", "Have a good morning" 等表达,而是用 "Have a good one"。我很好奇它是怎么来的,以下是语言学论坛上的一些有趣帖子:

"Have we become this lazy? I mean, really, is it that difficult to keep track of whether it is morning, afternoon or evening?

If you have not yet eaten lunch then chances are that it is still morning.

If you have not yet eaten dinner than chances are that it is still the afternoon.

If you have not yet gone to bed then chances are that it is still the evening.

If you are still up and about after midnight then chances are that you are slurring your words anyway."

"As far as what it should mean from the cashier, I would think the most logical choice would be that she wants you to have a good day. But maybe when she says "have a good one" she only wants you to have ONE good day, the implication being that she wants all the rest of your days to be bad. Next time someone says such a rude thing to you you should let 'em have it."

此外,"all set" 这个词几乎在任何场合都会用到,比 "OK" 频繁得多。奇怪的是,我在纽约的熟人根本没听过这个表达!(我当时在马萨诸塞州)。

有一个概念叫“翻译的假朋友”(在两种语言中听起来相似但含义不同的词——例如 accurate, intelligent)。我以前总是把工具称为 "instruments" 而不是 "tools"。

当我在某人的冰箱里看到一罐写着俄文 "Coca-Cola" 的可乐时,我非常惊讶。原来那是奥运会期间推出的不同语言名称的系列罐装可乐。

一位美国熟人告诉我,他知道醉酒的 4 个阶段:

-drunk -drunk as a pig -wasted -drunk as Boris Elcin

每个人都能讲出很多关于“你以为用俄语说话没人听得懂,结果却被听到了”的故事。这里有一个(发生在弗拉德身上)。在波士顿,一个带着家人的男人用英语问他怎么走。弗拉德解释完后,沿着同一个方向走在他们前面,停在桥上用相机拍摄。当那家人经过他身边时,那个男人对其他人说:“真是个白痴,他自己也要去那里却不说。” 回应是:“你才是白痴。”

我之前在某处写过——大型布谷鸟钟被称为 "Grandfather's clock"。起初,在还没弄清楚这是一个通用名称之前,我在工作中被要求搬运 "Grandfather's clock" 时总是格外小心——我以为那是传家宝。

总的来说,做过搬运工之后,我知道所有家具的名称,知道所有像“推-拉”这样的动词,当然,如果看到一个女孩走在人行道上,而你正开着卡车经过,我绝对不会有任何困难去表达我对她的好感 -)