Play With Words

这几个月来，dither 这个词成了保守党最爱挂在嘴边的词了。用 dither 来形容现任财相 Alistair Darling，当然是为了对应工党首相布朗的“精明强干”的形象。就象布朗十年前爱用 prudent，现在保守党希望反复使用 dither ，最后可以深入人心。

今天 Alistair Darling 终于宣布将对 Northern Rock 进行国有化了，保守党影子财相 George Osborne 在回应中更是一口一个 dither：

After months of dither and delay we have ended up with this catastrophic decision.

连一直宣扬 Northern Rock 国有化的自由民主党财政发言人 Vince Cable 也开始说 dither 了：

The Government has dithered. It has wasted time and money.

dither
n. A state of indecisive agitation.
v. To be nervously irresolution in acting or doing.
慌乱，紧张，犹豫，颤抖

在上周的“首相问答时间”(Prime Minister’s Question Time, PMQ)中，临时担任自由民主党魁的 Vince Cable 抛出了首相布朗“从斯大林变成憨豆先生”这么一个说法，引起众议院满堂哄笑。他说：

The house has noticed the prime minister’s the remarkable transformation in the last few weeks – from Stalin to Mr Bean.

你可以在路透社的网站上看到这段录像。

所谓 Gordon Brown 是斯大林的说法，来自前内阁秘书 Lord Turnbull。他在 Brown 即将上任时，对《金融时报》说：

You cannot help admire the sheer Stalinist ruthlessnes of it all.

“你不得不佩服其(指布朗的运作班子)斯大林式的强悍与冷酷”，这真是明捧暗讽的典型了。从斯大林式的铁腕，到憨豆先生笨手笨脚、时时可能出差错的形象，反差十分可笑，难怪各家媒体纷纷引用，成为城中谈资。

From Stalin to Mr Bean – The Daily Telegraph

Not so much Stalin as Mr Bean: Gordon Brown is made to play the fool in stage farce – The Times

对于政客来说，如果被认为是铁腕，那还好办；成为众人讥讽嘲笑的对象，不仅尴尬，而且十分危险，因为这意味着权威的丧失。好在布朗长得还不象憨豆－－至少他一点不好笑。

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

在星期二布莱尔最后一次记者招待会上，布莱尔被问道对他的继任者有没有什么建议？我们来看记者们是如何话外听音的：

Simon Hoggart on the Guardian:

Someone asked if he had any advice for his successor. “No”, he snapped. “He is perfectly capable of doing the job on his own.” The word “Not!” hovered unspoken in the air.

Andrew Gimson on the Daily Telegraph:

“Do you have any advice for your successor?” another correspondent ventured, to which Mr Blair replied with a brevity almost worthy of Clement Attlee: “No. He’s perfectly capable of doing the job on his own, thank you.”

Some of us took this to mean that Mr Blair will leave Gordon Brown to make a terrible mess of being Prime Minister and will then have a jolly good laugh at his expense.