Play With Words

当别人对你说“谢谢”时，如何恰当地回复？Philip Howard 在《泰晤士报》上作了回答：

Q: I am never satisfied with the acknowledgements to “thank you” in English. “Y’a welcome” – too American. “It’s nothing” – too Spanish. “Don’t mention it” – too awful. “My pleasure”, “that’s all right”, “any time” – not always appropriate. Can you help?
–Ann Irving, Guildford

A: Interesting. The most common reply to “thank you” in England is “cheers”. And common it is. Indeed, Charlie. But it is not always necessary to return the shuttlecocok when somebody says “thank you”. Much can be done with a self-deprecating smile. I fear that I may somtimes say “okey dokey”. The form of words does not matter as much as the warmth of your reponse by gesture and meaning.

这里我唯一看不懂的，是 Indeed, Charlie 这一句。除了以上说法，回应别人的 thank you，还可以用 no problem, no bother 这样的说法。用 okey dokey 倒是比较少见。其中还是有些细微的差别。

说 thank you 还有其它说法，thanks 是明显的变化。要加强，可以说 thank you very much 或 thanks a lot, many thanks 等。我记得刚到英国时，很疑惑地发现很多人在该说 thank you 的场合说 cheers。这好像只有在英国澳大利亚这样的地方流行，来源不明。如果你在苏格兰，还可以说 ta 。两种都是比较随意的说法。

Simon Hoggart described the shadow Home Sectary David Davis in his Guardian sketch:

Davis was not exactly discombobulated, but on the other hand, you could not describe him as entirely combobulated.

discombobulate 是来自美国的俚语，指 To throw into a state of confusion

有趣的是，虽然有 discombobulated，但很少见到使用 combobulated 这个词。

英国商店里的干香肠多种多样，如果你去商店或者超市的柜台上买，在选好种类后，职员会帮你切成薄片。用来切香肠薄片的是一台手动机器，一推一拉下，薄片就切出来了，还能调整薄片厚度。这就是 slice a salami 了。

Salami Slicing 现在经常用来形容从各处切割一点点，反反复复，在不引人注意的情况积少成多。比如在电脑犯罪中，从受害者的帐号上每次偷一点点钱，如果没有被发现，再反复偷取。

Salami Slicing 这个词前一阵大热，是与 BBC 削减经费行动有关。BBC 要削减开支，可以有两种方案，一种是裁掉某个项目，甚至裁掉某个频道，传言甚广的是会裁掉电视频道 BBC3 或者 BBC4。另一种是在所有部门之间分摊削减经费的负担。最后 BBC 选择了第二种方案，这就是 Salami Slicing 了。BBC 员工游行反对裁员时，有一块标语牌上就写着：Salami Slicer Strikes Again。但 BBC 总裁 Mark Thompson 坚决否认，他喜欢用 reprioritisation (重新定位) 这个词－－其实就是切薄片的时候厚薄不同而已。

当然，Salami Slicing 还可以用于其它各种与经费、利益分配有关的场合。

示例：

Thompson has ruled out ‘salami-slicing’ – shaving a similar amount from the budgets of every department or service – and that approach is also fiercely opposed by members of the new BBC Trust.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2174891,00.html

The case cannot be made if the price to be paid is the kind of salami slicing
which meant Today not just suffers but is seriously damaged.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/03/nhumphrys103.xml