英国人才懂的爱称与骂名

英国人才懂的爱称与骂名

　　人们总说英国人不爱流露情感，事实的确如此。至少在没喝醉时，英国人总是扭扭捏捏，不习惯向亲友表达爱意，经常回避直白露骨的抒情。相反，英国人倾向于用一种外人觉得奇怪的方式来释放被克制的情感——他们喜欢用没有恶意的责骂来表达爱意。如果你听到英国人用一些攻击性词汇“骂”自己的家人朋友爱人，别吃惊，这些词汇其实是他们表达喜爱与亲昵的独特方式。下面是五个看起来在“骂人”，但其实是表示友好的常用词汇，不是英国人(即便能说英语)绝对听不出里面的玄机!

　　It is often said that the British don't like showing emotion. It's certainly the case that - at least while sober - we do sometimes struggle to display affection towards our nearest and dearest, shunning gushy displays. A very common strategy for dealing with this emotional repression, however, which certainly baffles outsiders, is our tendency to show love through mild abuse.Hearing Brits refer to their family, friends, or even partners with seemingly offensive expressions may be surprising at first, but, more often than not, these are in fact affectionate, endearing terms. Here are five commonly heard'insults' that are actually pretty friendly – and will bamboozle any English speakers from outside of the UK。

　　Chump

　　这是我最喜欢的一个词，因为我爸在我和我哥哥小的时候总对我们说。如果有人没仔细思考就做了傻事，你就可以这么骂他。比如：“你又把作业丢进洗衣机了?!你这个Chump!”。显然，“chump”可以看做是“chunk”(大块)和“lump”(笨拙)的合体。所以“Chump”大概就是那种笨拙愚钝的感觉。

　　One of my favourites, as my Dad would use it pretty liberally towards me and my brother when we were children.Referring to a person who's done something silly without putting in much thought - perhaps 'Your homework's in the washing machine again?! You chump!'Apparently, 'chump' can be thought of as a mix of the words 'chunk' and 'lump'- so basically, things that are, like a chump, a bit dense。

　　Silly-Billy

　　“Billy”是男名“William”的常见缩写，历史上比较出名的“William”有19世纪的威廉四世国王，他经常制造一些毫无意义的扯淡演讲和愚蠢举止，因此被人们嘲笑为“Silly-Billy”。这个短语因为朗朗上口而流传了下来。现在，当某人犯糊涂时，他就会得到一句亲切的“Silly-Billy”。比如：“离论文截止只剩一个小时了，他才开始赶论文?!真是个Silly-billy!”

　　'Billy' is a common shortening of the boy's name 'William'. King William IV (4th) in the 1800s was well-knownfor his rambling, nonsensical speeches and foolish manner, and so came to be known as 'Silly-Billy'. The phrase caught on, perhaps because of its catchy rhyme, and 'silly-billy' is now used as a term of endearment when someone's being a little daft. As in - 'He only started his essay this morning and the deadline's in an hour?! What a silly-billy!'

　　Twit

　　根据“在线语源词典”，“twit”曾经是个动词，意识是批评和指责。后来演变为一个名词，指的是某些非得骂上一番的蠢人。英国有一本著名的儿童读物叫《The Twits》，讲述了一对顽皮的老夫妇成天在对方身上搞恶作剧。也许是这本书让带动了这个名词的普及，不过日常应用中，Twits还是一个满怀爱意的词，用来形容那些无比亲近却又像那对老夫妇一样让人烦恼的人。

　　According to the 'Online Etymology Dictionary', 'twit' was once a verb, meaning to blame or reproach someone. It then developed into a noun - unsurprisingly, describing someone that needed blaming or reproaching for being foolish. There's a popular children's book in the UK called 'TheTwits', which describes a really nasty old couple who just play tricks on each other. This may have brought the word into common usage, but its everyday application is still quite affectionate, used towards someone nowhere near as horrible as the characters。

　　Numpty

　　2007年的一次投票结果显示，“numpty”是苏格兰人最喜欢的词，不过它在整个英国也被广泛使用。据推测，它应该源于一个已经过时的词“numps”，意思是愚蠢。“numpty”的意思就是有点白痴：“她走了三英里去还书结果发现书忘在家啦?真是numpty!”

　　According to a 2007 poll, 'numpty' is Scotland's favourite word, but it's also used throughout the wider UK. It supposedly derives from the now outdated word 'numps', meaning stupid. So, a 'numpty' is a bit of an idiot - 'She walked 3 miles to return the book but left it at home?! The numpty'。

　　Wally

　　如果说一个人“wally”，就是在说他有点愚钝，没把事情仔细思考清楚。这个单词背后的故事不太明确，但是有个都市传说：在20世纪60年代的一次音乐节上，一个叫Wally的乐迷(也有版本说是乐迷的狗)走丢了。人们花了一整个周末去找他，最后所有的观众都在叫着“Wally!Wally!”。这场闹剧肯定持续了很久。有趣的是，美国的一本谜语书《Waldo在哪?》在英国被叫做《Wally在哪?》，很可能是因为Wally这个词有着“傻”的含义，就像这本书一样。

　　Someone who's a wally is probably also a bit of a chump -they just haven't thought things through very well. The story behind its originis a little dubious, but urban-legend has it that, at a 1960s music-festival, a festival-goer (or, in some accounts, his dog) named Wally got lost. The search for him lasted all weekend, and left the entire festival audience shouting 'Wally! Wally!'. It must have stuck. Interestingly, the US quiz book 'Where's Waldo?' is called 'Where's Wally?' in the UK, probably because 'Wally' has the connotations of being silly, just like the book itself。