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

Gordon Brown used the word ‘passerelle‘ in his first Common’s speech after signing the new EU treaty in Lisbon. Guardian’s Simon Hoggart helpfully looked it up from an EU website:

…Instead it means “a word meaning a footbridge, referring to the possibility of either moving a policy area from the intergovernmental third pillar to the supra-national first pillar, or changing the voting rules in the council, or the extension of the article’s scope of application.”

No wonder we are not getting a referendum.

I have read the sentence three times. Still clueless.

昨天自由民主党(Liberal Demorates Party)的两个高层(副领导人和主席)一起在党总部门口宣布领导人 Menzies Campbell 已经辞职的消息，当事人却不见踪影。虽然事先已经告知，不会回答记者任何问题，但是在简短的公告刚刚结束，人群中立刻有人高声喊道：

Did you wield the dagger?

一切联翩的浮想似乎可以回溯到恺撒之死。

《卫报》(The Guardian)上的 Simon Hoggart 为我们作了生动的描述：

…Mr Cable, the deputy leader, came next. It was he who had announced yesterday that there was a “debate” about Ming’s future.

This is the political equivalent of the knife between the shoulder blades. Or even the machete into the skull. There must have been a bubble of rage in Sir Menzies’s throat when he heard that. “Et tu, Vince,” however, lacks a certain resonance.

Shibboleth 是哥伦比亚艺术家 Doris Salcedo 在伦敦 Tate Modern 的“轮机房大厅”(Turbine Hall)的作品。Turbine Hall 中的作品，可以任凭作者想像，限制只是这个原电站轮机房内部巨大的空间，一年换一次。Shibboleth 是第7届作品。

Shibboleth (Oxford English Dictionary):

a word used as a test for detecting people from another district or country by their pronunciation; a word or a sound very difficult for foreigners to pronounce correctly.

Shibboleth 的来源是：

The Old Testament relates that the Ephraimites were trying to cross the river Jordan when they were caught by their sworn enemies the Gileadites, who forced them all to say the word “shibboleth”. Since the unfortunate Ephraimites’ dialect did not include the sound “sh”, this allowed the Gileadites to identify and slaughter large numbers of Ephraimites.

Shibboleth 是件真正利用 Turbine Hall 空间的作品：大厅混凝土地面上的一条裂缝。大厅入口处的垃圾桶地下开始，是地面上的一条细小的裂缝，细缝向厅内延伸，越变越大，在某处分成两支，最粗之处成人可以伸入手臂－－但深不能见底。

这件作品，是如何做出来的？难道真是在 Tate Modern 地面上凿出一条裂缝？艺术馆表示绝不会透露内幕。不过上周《卫报》上有篇非常精彩的介绍文章，而且最后还会透露这件作品的制作秘密。

(11月7日：上周去看了这件作品，果然很有意思)

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几乎所有的护肤品化妆品，如果你看包装上的成份标注，第一项都是 Aqua。Aqua 这个词很美，听上去也很优雅。Aqua 来源拉丁语，现代的某些语言，比如意大利语中，还在使用。它的意思是……水。

英国的 Boots 出售的“专业敏感面部清新喷雾” －－Expert Sensitive Refreshing Facial Spritz，号称 “gentle facial spritz specially formulated to refresh and hydrate. Hypoallergenic and fragance-free it instantly cools and refreshens skin. Lanolin free. Dermatologically tested”。以喷雾罐形式出售，每罐125毫升，售价 3.99 镑。它的成份只有一种：Aqua。

《卫报》(The Guardian)的 Michael White 有着一手风趣的文笔。有关这次提前大选风波，他写道：

…But what mattered yesterday was that Mr Brown blinked first. In the long run it may not prove to be what managers sometimes call a CLM – a career limiting moment. If he recovers strongly the “Bottler Brown” jibe will fade.

But the weekend’s drama was defintely a career enhancing moment for two of the other players. Mr Cameron may just have had a “people’s princess” moment with the Middle Britain public. And this was surely the day when Mr Marr inherited one of nation’s great constitutional offices. From here on he is The Dimbleby of State.

Mr Marr : Andrew Marr. 原 BBC 政治编辑 (political editor)，现在担任 BBC One 星期天早晨的政治清谈节目 The Andrew Marr Show。这次 Gordon Brown 就是选择他的节目宣布不会有提前的大选。此举代表了 Andrew Marr 的节目在英国政治生活中的重要地位－－与另一位资深的时事节目主持人 Johnathan Dimbleby 看齐。

猜猜看，说的是那一家？

From Guardian’s Diary column:

When we hear so much from politicians about antisocial behaviour, it is good to have real testimonies from real people. Readers like Ray Mitcham. People who’ve suffered. “We have a huge council house in our street,” he says. “The extended family is run by a grumpy old woman with a pack of fierce dogs. Her car isn’t taxed or insured, but the police still do nothing. Her bad-tempered old man is famous for upsetting foreigners with racist comments. A shopkeeper blames him for ordering the murder of his son and his son’s girlfriend, but nothing has been proved yet. All their kids have broken marriages except the youngest. Two grandsons are meant to be in the army but are always seen out in nightclubs. The family’s odd antics are always in the papers. They are out of control. Honestly – who’d live near Windsor Castle?” Who indeed.

Guardian’s Hadley Freeman answers the question “Why do fashion models look so grumpy” from a male reader. (I must confess I have the same question but not sure whom to ask.)

Well, try being a model: you can’t eat, you barely get to sleep and you often have to wear really stupid clothes yet keep a straight face while the photographer shouts about how you should shag the camera, or something.