評論
打印
For one thing, I just do not do uniforms.
首先，我不喜歡制服。
And for another, deciding what words are good and what words are bad is actually not very easy.
而且，決定誰是好詞誰是壞詞其實一點也不容易，
And it's not very fun. And when parts of your job are not easy or fun,
還不好玩。如果你的工作中有這么一部分既不容易又不好玩，
you kind of look for an excuse not to do them.
你就會千方百計去回避它。
So if I had to think of some kind of occupation as a metaphor for my work, I would much rather be a fisherman.
由此，如果要找一種工作來比喻我在干的活，我寧可當一個漁夫。
I want to throw my big net into the deep, blue ocean of English
我要在英語這個深藍的海洋里撒上我的大網，
and see what marvelous creatures I can drag up from the bottom.
看可以從海里捕到什么珍異的海產。
But why do people want me to direct traffic, when I would much rather go fishing?
可是現實中，為什么人們期望我去當交警而不是漁夫呢？
Well, I blame the Queen. Why do I blame the Queen?
這，是英女王的錯。為什么我要責怪她？
Well, first of all, I blame the Queen because it's funny.
首先，責怪女王比較有趣，
But secondly, I blame the Queen because dictionaries have really not changed.
另外的原因是，自維多利亞女王以來，字典并沒有什么變化。
Our idea of what a dictionary is has not changed since her reign.
我們對字典的理解自維多利亞女王統治時期以來沒有改變過。
The only thing that Queen Victoria would not be amused by in modern dictionaries
在現代字典里，唯一不會讓女王歡喜的是
is our inclusion of the F-word, which has happened in American dictionaries since 1965.
對臟話的引入，自1965年起出現在美國字典里。
So, there's this guy, right? Victorian era.
看看這位先生，維多利亞時期的，
James Murray, first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.
詹姆斯·穆雷，牛津英語字典的第一位編輯。
I do not have that hat. I wish I had that hat.
我沒有像他那樣的帽子，我多希望有這樣的一頂帽子。
So he's really responsible for a lot of what we consider modern in dictionaries today.
就是他把我們至今還認為是現代的元素放在字典里。
When a guy who looks like that, in that hat, is the face of modernity, you have a problem.
如果把一個如此打扮的人，看那帽子，作為現代的代表，那你們就有麻煩了。
And so, James Murray could get a job on any dictionary today.
詹姆斯·穆雷即使活在今天也還是能為任何一本字典擔任編纂工作，
There'd be virtually no learning curve.
而無需學習曲線。
