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Hi again. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. I'm Adam.
嗨!歡迎回到 EngVid,我是亞當
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Today's lesson is a little bit interesting.
今天要教的東西滿有趣的
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I'll give you a little bit of a background first of all. English speakers, and this is a very cultural part of English...
我會先告訴你一些背景資料,說英文的人...這也是英文文化裡滿重要的一件事
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And remember, culture plays a lot... Has a big role when it comes to language.
記住,文化影響很重要,文化對語言的影響佔了很大一部份
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A lot of speakers, in English, don't want to say certain words.
許多說英文的人,會避免自己說出一些特定的字眼
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For some reason, they think this word is dirty or heavy, or they just don't like this word, so we find soft expressions.
由於某些原因,他們覺得這些字很髒或是聽起來很沉重,所以我們有了這些軟性說法
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We find other ways to say the same thing that everybody understands, everybody from the culture understands.
我們找出了一些其他人也聽得懂的說法,處在同個文化裡的人都會懂的
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It may be a little bit difficult for non-native English speakers to understand these expressions, so today we're going to look at a few.
對英語學習者來說,這些說法可能會比較難懂,所以今天我們來看一些這樣的用法吧!
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There are many, many such expressions.
英文有許多、許多這樣的說法
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We're just going to look at a few for today.
我們今天只會來看一些
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Firstly, these soft expressions are also called euphemisms. You don't need to know this word.
第一點,這些軟性的說法也被稱為委婉詞語,你可以不用特別記住這個詞
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If you want to look up more expressions, type: "euphemisms" into your search box on the internet, and you'll see many more.
如果你想多看其他的委婉用法,可以在網路搜尋欄裡打「euphemisms」,你就會看到其他的用法
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I'm just going to give you a few to give you an example of what a euphemism is.
我會舉些例子,讓你看看什麼是委婉用法
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And when you watch Hollywood movies or TV shows, if you hear these expressions, now hopefully, you will understand what they mean.
當你看好萊塢的電影或是一些影集時,如果你聽到這些用法,希望你聽得懂它們代表什麼意思囉
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So we're going to start with: "passed away" which is very common.
首先我們先看 'passed away",這用法很常見
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I think many of you probably know this expression. Or: "did not make it".
我想你們很多人應該都知道這用法,或是說 "did not make it"
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So if you go to the hospital, your friend was in a car accident, and you bring him to the hospital or the ambulance brings him to the hospital,
假如你在醫院,因為你的朋友出車禍了,接著你或是救護車帶他去醫院
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and he's in there for a while, and then you see the doctor.
然後在醫院過了一陣子後,你去見醫生
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And you go to the doctor: "How's my friend?" And the doctor says: "Oh, I'm sorry. He didn't make it."
你問醫生:「我的朋友還好嗎?」醫生說:「噢,我很抱歉,他撐不下去了」
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What does that mean? Or: "I'm sorry. He passed away." What does that mean?
那是什麼意思?或是說「我很遺憾,他走了」那又是什麼意思
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It means he died.
意思是他死了
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Now, why people don't like to say the word "died", well, it's a very heavy word.
好,為什麼人們不喜歡提到 "died" 這個字呢?是這樣的,這個字用起來十分沉重
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Death, people don't like to talk about death, so they find other ways to say the same thing.
死亡,人們不喜歡談論死亡,所以他們找到了替代的說法
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Okay?
懂嗎?
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Now, all of these are not bad things, but you know, we just want to soften the language.
現在要說的這些用法並不是不好,但你知道,我們就是會想要委婉地表達
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We want to be a bit more polite sometimes.
我們有時會想要表現得比較有禮一點
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If you want, if you're in the washroom and you want...
如果你想,如果你在廁所但你想去...
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Sorry, if you're in the restaurant and you want the washroom,
噢抱歉,如果你在餐廳而你想去洗手間,
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but you don't want to say the word "washroom" or you don't want to say the word "toilet", you say...
但你不想說「洗手間」或是「廁所」,你可以說...
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If you're a boy, you say, or a man, you say: "Where's the little boys' room?"
如果你是男生,或是個男人,你可以說 "Where's the little boys' room?
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If you're a woman: "Where's the ladies' room?"
如果你是女人,你可以說 "Where's the ladies' room?"
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Now, we understand all this to be toilet. But people think "toilet" is a dirty word.
現在我們都懂這些都是在指廁所,但人們覺得「廁所」這個字不乾淨
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They don't like to say the word "toilet", so they say: "Little boys' room", or: "Ladies' room". Okay?
他們不喜歡說「廁所」這個詞,所以他們會說 "Little boys' room" 或是 "Ladies' room",懂嗎?
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Now, sometimes you'll see people in a wheelchair.
接著,有時你會看到坐輪椅的人
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Maybe they had an accident, maybe they were born this way, but they can't walk.
他們可能出過車禍,或是一出生就是如此,他們無法行走
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They're in a wheelchair. Or you see people who have a...
他們坐在輪椅上,或是你看到某些人有...
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who were born with a disease, and they're not, you know, they're not fully functional like everyone else.
某些人一出生身體就帶著殘疾,他們並不,你知道的,有些普通人能做的他們做不到
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We used to say: "handicapped".
我們之前會說他們為 "handicapped"
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But people find this word to be a little bit offensive, and so it's not politically correct; it's not a nice thing to say.
但人們覺得這個字有點傷人,也不政治正確,這種說法不好就是了
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So now, we say: "They are mentally challenged." Or: "They are physically challenged."
因此現在,我們會說 "They are mentally challenged." 或是 "They are physically challenged."
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It used to be: "handicapped" or: "disabled".
這些字以前曾是 "handicapped" 或 "disabled" 的意思
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But people don't want to say "disabled"
但現在人們不想再說 "disabled" 這個字了
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because they think or they know that these people are very able, they can do many things; they're just limited.
因為他們覺得,或是他們其實認為這些殘疾者一樣能做很多事,他們只是受限了
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Okay? They are challenged by their condition.
懂嗎?他們是被自己的狀況挑戰
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So they are mentally challenged or they are physically challenged is a more polite way to say it.
因此他們是 "mentally challenged" 或 "physically challenged" 是比較委婉的說法
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Okay, so now, we're going to look at the next expressions.
好的,現在我們要來看看下個說法
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If you want to talk about a man or a woman,
如果你想要談論一個男人或女人的身材,
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and the not polite way to talk about them is to say: "He or she is fat, big. "
比較沒有禮貌的說法是 "He or she is fat, big."
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So, people don't like the word "fat".
人們不喜歡 'fat" 這個字
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So, for a more polite way or a softer way to say "fat" for a woman is: "She is full-figured."
因此比較用來形容 "fat" 的女人較有禮或是婉轉的說法是 "She is full-figured."
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Full-figured means she's complete. She's full in all the places, and that's what we say.
"Full-figured" 意思是她身材面面俱到,她各處都很豐滿,這就是我們的說法
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A man, we're a little bit less nice to men.
男人的話,我們對男人就沒那麼好了
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A man has "let himself go". Means he stopped taking care of himself, and became fat. Okay?
一個男人已經 "let himself go" 意思就是他不再照顧自己,因此變得肥胖,懂嗎?
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Again, not a nice word, but not necessarily a very nice expression either, but it's softer.
一樣,這不是很好的用法,也不一定是個好的表達方式,但這委婉許多
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It's not as direct, but everybody understands what this means.
這不直接,但每個人都懂這句話的意思
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Now, if you have a friend or you have a family member and he says that...
現在,如果有個朋友或是你的家人說...
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Or you introduce him as being "laid off" or "between jobs",
或是你要提到他被 "laid off" 或 "between jobs"
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this is a more polite, a softer way to say he is unemployed.
這是種比較有禮的說法,比較委婉地表達他待業中的狀況
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It means he doesn't have a job. He's looking for a job. He's being laid off.
意思是他沒有工作,他正在找工作,他被裁員了
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"Laid off" is a nicer way to say "fired". He lost his job.
"Laid off" 是炒魷魚的婉轉說詞,他失去他的工作了
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So, if somebody's between jobs, they are unemployed.
如果有人正在「工作之間」,代表他們待業中
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People don't like to say they are unemployed; everybody has a certain judgment about that,
人們不喜歡說他們失業中,每個人對於這件事都有一定的看法
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so they say they're between jobs or they're looking for something.
所以他們會說 "between jobs" 或是他們正在找尋某件事物
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Same idea.
一樣的意思
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Now we get into a little bit more fun expressions.
現在我們的用法會比較有趣一些
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So, for example: oh, I have a new iPad. Only $100. Brand new.
舉例來說 :「噢,我有台新的 iPad,我只花了 100 元」,全新的
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And somebody says: -"Oh. How did you get it so cheap?" -"Oh", I said:
接著其他人說:「噢,你怎麼找得到這種價格呀?」「噢」,我繼續說:
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"I got it off the back of a truck." or: "It fell off the back of a truck."
「我在一台卡車的後面找到的」或是「它從卡車後面掉下來的」
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In British English, they would say: "lorry". "Lorry" means truck.
在英式用法,他們會說 "lorry","lorry" 是卡車的意思
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If somebody tells you they got something off the back of the truck... Sorry, it's also the back of the truck.
如果有人跟你講他們從卡車後面找到東西...抱歉,也是卡車後面
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It means it is stolen. So you didn't buy it from the store; you bought it on the street.
意思是它是贓貨,因為你不是從商店買的,你是在街頭買到的
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Somebody had a truck, you paid them cash, they give you the product.
有人有台卡車,你付現金,他們拿貨給你
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It was stolen somewhere. You don't care.
它是從某個地方偷來的,你也不在乎
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You have a brand new product for less than half the price.
因為你用低於半價的價格就買到全新的商品了
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So, "off the back of the truck", "fell off", it was stolen.
因此,"off the back of the truck" 及 "fell off",代表它是贓品的意思
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If something... Oh, sorry. Let me make sure we understand that these are here. Now, when...
如果某個東西,噢抱歉,讓我確定我要講的都在這...現在,當...
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It used to be a long time ago that when you bought a car, you could buy a brand new car or you could buy a used car.
這通常是以前的用法,但當你買車時,你可以選擇買新車或是買台用過的車
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But then, eventually, people started not to like the word "used".
但最後,人們開始不喜歡 "used" 這個字了
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"Used" means somebody else used it, had it for its good time, and then got rid of it.
"Used" 的意思是其他人用過了,有用這台車度過美好時光過,接著才脫手賣掉
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So marketing departments got smart, and they started using a different expression to mean used.
因此行銷商變聰明了,他們開始用不同的說法去代表 'used" 這個字
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"Previously enjoyed". Somebody else enjoyed this thing, now you can enjoy it too.
"Previously enjoyed",代表之前有人享受過這項產品,現在輪到你享受了
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It's still used. It still has 100,000 kilometers on it, it still has a cigarette hole in the seat,
它一樣是被使用過,它還是有十萬公里的里程紀錄,座位上一樣有個被煙燙到留下的小洞
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but it was previously enjoyed. Now it's your turn to enjoy it.
但這是被上個人使用過的商品,現在輪到你了
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Okay, the next expression we have is, for example, if you see someone in your office, a co-worker,
好的,我們要介紹的下個用法,舉例來說,如果你看到有人在你的辦公室,也就是你的同事
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she comes to work and her stomach is a little bit bigger.
她過來上班,然後你發現她的肚子變大了
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Then the next week, it's a little bit bigger, a little bit bigger, but the rest of her is staying slim.
下週你再看一次,又變大了,一直變大,而她身體的其他地方還是瘦瘦的
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So you say: "Oh, you know, I think she might have a bun in the oven."
於是你說:「噢,你知道嗎?我覺得她好像有個『麵包在烤箱裡』」
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"A bun in the oven" means pregnant.
" A bun in the oven" 意思就是懷孕
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Now, if you're in high school, for example, and one of your classmates,
那麼如果是在高中,舉例來說,你的某位同學
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she's like 16 or 17, and same thing, her stomach's getting bigger,
她大約16、17歲,接著一樣的事發生,她的腹部漸漸隆起
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then we say: "You know what? I think she's knocked up."
我們會說:「你知道嗎?我覺得她好像肚子被搞大了」
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"Knocked up" also means pregnant, but this is more slang, and it's a little bit more of a negative idea.
"Knocked up" 的意思是懷孕,但這比較像是俚語用法,整體來說比較負面
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Okay? So it's not necessarily softer. It's saying the same thing, pregnant, but it's a bit of a negative connotation to it.
懂嗎?所以這並不一定比較婉轉,這代表的是同一件事,懷孕,只是有著比較負面的涵義
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So be careful about using that one.
要用這種說法時要多注意一點
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But just so you know what it means.
讓你知道一下這用法的意思這樣
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Now, again, like I said before, there are many, many, many such expressions in the English language. Look them up online.
現在一樣,像我之前我說過的,英文有許多許多不同的用法,在網路上多看看吧
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And if you want, you can always come and ask me a question in the comments section at www.engvid.com.
如果你想要的話,你永遠都可以來 engvid 的網站下面留言問我問題
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You can also come test your knowledge of these ones with the quiz.
你也可以用這些測驗考考自己
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Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel, and come see us again very soon. Bye.
別忘了訂閱我的頻道,也要快來看我們,掰掰!