評論
打印
Culture
文藝版塊
Book review
書評
British v American English
英式英語vs美式英語
What's your cup of tea?
哪種是你的菜？
Johnson on language
約翰遜語言專欄
Gobsmacked! By Ben Yagoda.
《驚呆了!》，本·雅戈達著。
British intellectuals enjoy bewailing the influx of Americanisms into the language of the mother country.
英國知識分子喜歡為了美式英語大量涌入其母國的語言而哀嘆。
The BBC once asked British readers to send in the Americanisms that annoyed them most and was flooded with thousands of entries, including “24/7”, “deplane” and “touch base”.
英國廣播公司曾請英國讀者提交最讓他們惱火的美式英語，結果收到了數千條回復，其中包括“24/7”（全天候，即全天24小時，每周7天不停歇）“下飛機”和“與某人聯系”。
Matthew Engel, a writer who had kicked off the conversation with an article on unwanted Americanisms, even turned the idea into a book, “That’s the Way It Crumbles”, in 2017.
馬修·恩格爾是一位作家，他曾發表過一篇關于不受歡迎的美式英語的文章，從而引發了這場討論，他甚至在2017年將這個想法寫成了一本書，名為《你學的英語是英語？》。
The furore—which Americans would call a furor—seemed to die down.
這場群情激奮的討論——美國人會稱之為furor——似乎平息了。
But in September Simon Heffer of the Daily Telegraph revived it with a column and book exploring Americanisms, a trend he situates “in the past 15 years”.
但在今年9月，《每日電訊報》的西蒙·赫弗在一篇專欄文章和一本書中探討了美式英語，從而重新提起了這個話題，他認為這種趨勢“在過去15年間”產生。
His language evokes violence, bemoaning American words’ “poisoning”, “linguistic assault”, “conquest” and “penetration”.
他的語言讓人想到暴力，他悲嘆美國詞匯的“毒害”“語言攻擊”“征服”和“穿透”。
In the end, though, even the hyperbolic Mr Heffer concedes that Brits are, in fact, “willingly adopting” these words, especially via two channels associated with America: digital technology and “corporatespeak”.
但在最后，就連夸張的赫弗也承認，事實上，英國人“愿意采用”這些詞匯，尤其是通過與美國相關的兩個渠道：數字技術和“企業用語”。
He just wishes his countrymen would stop.
他只是希望他的同胞們能夠停止使用美國詞匯。
But linguistic exchange can also be seen in a more upbeat way.
但是語言交流也可以從更樂觀的角度來看待。
This is the approach of Ben Yagoda, emeritus professor of English at the University of Delaware, in “Gobsmacked!”
這是特拉華大學英文專業榮譽退休教授本·雅戈達在《驚呆了！》一書中的看法。
The trend is older and more extensive than many think.
英式英語進入美式英語的趨勢比許多人認為的更為古老和廣泛。
Mr Yagoda describes Britishisms like “it’s early days” and “gone missing” taking hold in America almost entirely below the radar in the 1980s and 2000s, respectively.
雅戈達寫道，一些英式表達，如“早期”和“不見了”，這兩個表達分別在20世紀80年代和21世紀初在美國流行起來，而且幾乎沒有引起人們的注意。
Mr Yagoda identifies the intensifier “awfully” (as in “awfully tired”) as the first Britishism, having been noticed (disapprovingly) by an American commentator in the 19th century.
雅戈達指出，“極其”（如“極其疲憊”）這個強化詞是第一個傳入美國的英式英語，19世紀時被一位美國評論家注意到（并對這個詞表示不贊成）。
The early 20th century saw many more Britishisms take hold, especially via military contact: “gadget”, “cushy”, “scrounge”, “bonkers”, “dicey” and “shambolic” all made their way from the British Tommy to GI. Joe, and thence to the wider American public.
20世紀初，更多的英式英語表達流行起來，尤其是通過軍事接觸：“小裝置”“輕松的”“乞討”“發瘋的”“不確定的”“混亂的”都從英國士兵傳到了美國士兵那里，然后又傳給了美國大眾。
The internet has spread English in both directions.
互聯網在英到美和美到英兩個方向上傳播了英語。
Being able to read the Guardian and to binge “The Crown” on Netflix has probably speeded up the passage of British terms into American speech.
能夠閱讀《衛報》，能夠在網飛上刷《王冠》，這種情況可能加速了英式用語進入美式英語的過程。
Mr Yagoda has compiled a “top 40”, including “brilliant” (merely “OK, good”), “chat up” and “ginger”.
雅戈達編制了一份“英式用語前40名”清單，包括“很好的”（意思僅僅是“不錯，很好的”）“搭訕”和“姜黃色的”。
Each term gets a rating on a five-notch adoption scale, from “outpacing” (signifying Americans now use the term more than its coiners in Britain do) to merely “on the radar”, meaning only a few newspaper columnists are using it.
每個詞都有一個五分制的采用率評級，從最高的“超過”（表示美國人現在使用這個詞的頻率超過了創造這個詞的英國人）到最低的僅僅“在雷達上”，表示只有少數報紙專欄作家在使用這個詞。
American Anglophiles tend to be part of a media elite who holiday in Europe (and might even use “holiday” as a verb), whereas American slang is seen as passing to Britain through less rarefied channels.
美國的親英派往往屬于媒體精英，他們在歐洲度假（甚至可能把“度假”用作動詞），而美國俚語則是通過不那么精英的渠道傳到英國的。
Lynne Murphy, a linguist at the University of Sussex, notes that “Friends”, an American comedy show, is often blamed wrongly for the rise of “Can I get…?”at coffee shops in Britain.
薩塞克斯大學的語言學家林恩·墨菲指出，美國喜劇《老友記》經常被誤認為是“我能要……嗎？”這種表達方式在英國咖啡店里興起的罪魁禍首。
In her study of online lists explaining British terms to Americans and vice versa, she found the ones about Britishisms for Americans were often framed positively (for example, “a guide to the best Britishisms”), whereas for Brits Americanisms were more often negative (“41 things the Americans say wrong”).
她研究了向美國人解釋英式英語以及向英國人解釋美式英語的網絡清單，發現給美國人提供的英式英語清單通常是以積極的方式呈現的（例如，“最佳英式英語指南”），而給英國人提供的美式英語清單則常常是負面的（“美國人說錯的41件事”）。
Which Britishisms tickle American fancies?
哪些英式表達讓美國人覺得有意思？
A few sounds recur, such as adjectives ending in “y”, from “cushy” and “smarmy”—Britishisms but no longer seen as such in America—to more recent ones like “cheeky” and “dodgy”.
有幾個發音反復出現，比如以y結尾的形容詞，從“輕松的”和“拍馬屁的”——這兩個詞是英式英語，但在美國已不再被視為英式英語——到更近一些的“厚臉皮的”和“狡猾的”。
B- and p-sounds also feature, including in made-up words (“bumbershoot” is not, as some Americans believe, a British word for an umbrella).
B和p的發音也是一大特點，包括在虛構單詞中（bumbershoot并不是像一些美國人以為的在英式英語中表示傘）。
The Oatmeal, a web comic, summed up how British English sounds to Americans: “I remember my days at Oxford, we’d often dabble in a little rumpy-pumpy before dingbangling a fresh todger, haha!”
網絡漫畫《燕麥粥》總結了英式英語對美國人來說聽起來像什么：“我想起我在牛津的日子，我們經常在稍微打情罵俏之后再風流一下，哈哈！”
That hints at another source of Britishisms making their way west: insults and “naughty bits” like “shag” and “wanker”.
這暗示了英式英語向美國傳播的另一個源頭：侮辱性詞匯和“下流”詞匯，如“上床”和“手淫”。
A spirit of playfulness pervades Americans’ use of these British words; they may even tend to overuse them and underestimate their rudeness, because the sounds are so silly.
美國人在使用這些英式詞匯時充滿了一種玩鬧的精神，他們甚至可能傾向于過度使用這些詞匯，并且低估了這些詞匯的粗魯程度，因為這些詞匯的發音非?；?。
It is possible that the British need “Gobsmacked!” more than their American cousins.
有可能英國人比他們的美國表親更需要《驚呆了！》這本書。
The Americanisation of British English is well known; the Britishisation of American English, not so much (as a Californian teen might say).
英式英語的美國化是眾所周知的，而美式英語的英國化則不那么為人所知（一個加利福尼亞青少年可能會這樣認為）。
A country not sure what influence it still has in the world might like to know that the superpower across the ocean still fancies the mother country and its culture.
一個國家如果不確定自己在世界上還有什么影響力，那么它可能會想知道大洋彼岸的超級大國仍然喜歡其母國及母國的文化。
