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來源于《圖書與藝術》版塊
Johnson
約翰遜語言專欄
Talking to the world
與世界對話
A tribute to the original Johnson columnist, a voice for the ages
向約翰遜的原創專欄作家致敬，為時代發聲
The founder of this column, Stephen Hugh-Jones, died on February 28th. He was an extraordinary character at The Economist—long, lean, waspish, and a self-appointed menace to facile consensus. His theatrical interventions tended to come at Monday editorial meetings where, sitting on the floor with his back to the editor's desk, he would uncurl his frame to shout “Phooey!” Such exclamations ("Ho hum”, “Baloney", "Piffle") often found their way into copy, both his own and other people's. His edits, during which he chanted and sometimes almost sang the lines aloud, were razor-sharp.
本專欄的創始人斯蒂芬•休•瓊斯于2月28日去世。他在《經濟學人》是一個非凡的人物——耐久的、精瘦的、像黃蜂一樣的人，而且他還自詡為一種對輕率共識的威脅。他的戲劇性干預往往出現在周一的編輯會議上，他坐在地板上，背對著編輯的辦公桌，展開身體大喊“呸!”這些感嘆詞(“嗬哼”、“胡扯”、“胡扯”)他自己經常用，別人也模仿。他的編輯體現了他敏捷的思維，編輯過程中，他吟誦著歌詞，有時幾乎是大聲地唱出來，
He was hired in the 1960s before leaving to run a magazine in Paris. He was lured back to oversee the business pages in 1974, and his first act was to buy calculators for his writers, which along with his force of personality made an immediate difference in quality. He huffed out in 1980 after an organisational dispute, but so admired was he that he was hired a third time--and given a language column from 1992 to 1999.
他在20世紀60年代被聘用，之后離開公司去巴黎經營一家雜志。1974年，他被吸引回《商業日報》，他的第一個行動是為作家們買計算器，這與他的人格力量一道，使計算機的質量立刻發生了變化。1980年，在一次組織糾紛后，他憤然辭職，但他太受欣賞了，第三次被聘用，并在1992年至1999年期間擔任語言專欄作家。
The column grew from Stephen's love of the great dictionary-maker's humanity, and of the original Johnson's hatred of cant. "The Goths have already seized the airwaves. Do not expect young Johnson to encourage them; he wrote in high dudgeon in his opening manifesto. His exactitude showed up in columns on “may” v “might”. "Hitler might have won the war" is a counterfactual that wonders what would have happened had Stalingrad gone differently, he explained. "Hilter may have won the war” means the outcome remains unknown.
這個專欄源于斯蒂芬對這位偉大的詞典編纂者的人性的熱愛，以及最初的約翰遜對偽善的憎恨。“哥特人已經占領了電波。不要指望小約翰遜會鼓勵他們；他在公開宣言中憤怒地寫道。他在“may v might”專欄中表現出嚴謹作風。他解釋說，“希特勒可能已經贏得了這場戰爭”是一個反事實，如果斯大林格勒采取不同的方式，會發生什么。“希特勒可能贏得了戰爭”意味著結果仍然未知。
But be also knew (like the original Johnson) that though changes in language could be slowed, they could not be stopped: "Lovers of English do well to resist until majority opinion overrules them." In the “endless debate between… the pedantic view of language and the anyfink-goes one ... the wise man expects no resolution." He could be shockingly old-fashioned. “Parental love is seldom honoured in poetry," he opined; “most mothers, perhaps, are too busy caring for their young to write poems about them, and men prefer their mistresses.” Yet he knew this about himself, and welcomed change too: “political correctness, at its silliest, has never done one-fiftieth as much harm as its reverse.”
但也要知道(就像最初的約翰遜一樣)，盡管語言的變化可以放緩，但卻無法阻止:“英語愛好者們很容易抵制，直到多數人的意見推翻了他們。”在“迂腐的語言觀和無所不包的語言觀之間無休止的爭論……”聰明人不指望有什么決心。：他可能非常守舊。“在詩歌中，父母之愛很少得到尊重，”他認為；“或許，大多數母親都忙于照顧孩子，沒有時間為她們寫詩，而男人更喜歡情婦。”然而，他對自己也有這樣的認識，他也歡迎改變:“政治上的正確，即使是最愚蠢的，所造成的危害也不及它的反面所造成的危害的五十分之一。”
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