Quora精選：英式和美式英語(yǔ)間的誤會(huì)

由于英美英語(yǔ)的差異美國(guó)人和英國(guó)人會(huì)彼此誤會(huì)嗎?

獲得56.3k好評(píng)的回答@Andrew Bayles：

Definitely.

當(dāng)然。

As a speaker of American English, I once told my British coworker that I needed to stop home before our next appointment because my pants were wet.

我說(shuō)的是美式英語(yǔ)。有一次告訴英國(guó)同事見(jiàn)面之前我得先回家，因?yàn)槲已澴訚窳恕?/p>

He responded with “I certainly didn’t need to know that!”, looking surprised that I had told him.

他回答說(shuō)：“我真沒(méi)必要知道這些!”他看起來(lái)很驚訝我跟他說(shuō)這些。

The confusion in this case was based on the fact that in the US, pants means everything from slacks to blue jeans, while in Britain, pants means underwear.

這件事里的誤會(huì)在于在美國(guó)pants指的是寬松長(zhǎng)褲或藍(lán)色牛仔褲等所有褲子，而在英國(guó)指的是內(nèi)褲。

I had gotten the bottom of my slacks wet from walking in the snow, but he thought I was saying that I had peed my underwear.

我在雪里走褲子底邊濕了，但他以為我在說(shuō)自己尿褲子了。

On a related note, in the 90s there was a popular song that had a female backup singer repeating the line “pissing the night away” over and over.

類(lèi)似情況還有90年代有一首流行歌曲，唱這首歌的一個(gè)女伴唱歌手一直重復(fù)一句“pissing the night away(喝了一晚上)”。

The members of the band were all British, which is important in understanding that “pissing the night away” essentially means “drinking the night away” or even just “wasting time all night long”.

樂(lè)隊(duì)成員都是英國(guó)人，這一點(diǎn)很重要，因?yàn)樗麄兯斫獾?ldquo;pissing the night away”本意上就是“喝了一晚上酒”或甚至只是“消磨一晚上的時(shí)間”。

In the US, pissing means “urinating”.

在美國(guó)pissing的意思是“小便”。

I had a really hard time trying to figure out why anyone would want to spend all night peeing.

有一段時(shí)間我真的是很費(fèi)勁地想弄明白為什么有人想要尿一整晚。

Another possible confusion arising from the very same verb is the fact that a person who is “pissed” is drunk in Britain, but really really angry in the US.

這個(gè)動(dòng)詞可能造成的另一個(gè)誤會(huì)是在英國(guó)“一個(gè)pissed的人”是指“一個(gè)喝醉了的人”，但在美國(guó)是指這個(gè)人“非常非常生氣”。

That leads to another common misunderstanding.

還有另一個(gè)常見(jiàn)的誤會(huì)。

In the US, if I said that so-and-so was “mad”, I would mean that that person was angry.

在美國(guó)如果我說(shuō)某某人“mad”，可能我的意思是這個(gè)人很生氣。

In Britain, the word mad is the common term for [en]“crazy”.

而在英國(guó)，“mad”這個(gè)詞通常指“crazy(瘋了)”。

If an American asks “Are you mad?”, they’re likely trying to find out what they did wrong; if a Briton asks the same question, they’re accusing you of insanity.

如果一個(gè)美國(guó)人問(wèn)“你生氣了嗎?”他們可能是想弄明白他們做錯(cuò)什么了，如果英國(guó)人問(wèn)這個(gè)問(wèn)題，則是在指責(zé)你瘋了。

As a fun exercise in a class I taught a few years ago, I wrote the following story that means entirely different things in US and British English:

幾年前我教授的課堂上有一個(gè)有趣的練習(xí)，我寫(xiě)了下面這個(gè)故事，在美式和英式英語(yǔ)中意思截然不同：

Yesterday I woke up late for an appointment. I washed up, then pulled on some pants and suspenders, and grabbed a vest on my way out the door.

昨天我有約但起床晚了，我洗漱完穿上褲子和背帶，出門(mén)時(shí)順手抓了一件背心。

I drove out toward the university and got a flat. I've had a flat before, but never on my own.

我開(kāi)車(chē)去大學(xué)方向，輪胎爆了，以前也爆過(guò)，但都有別人在。

So I called my dad to tell him about it and find out what kinds of things I should be checking for... I ended up catching a lift with my new neighbor, who's really fit, by the way.

所以我給爸爸打電話告訴他這件事，想了解一下該檢查什么…最后我搭了新鄰居的車(chē)，順便說(shuō)一下鄰居身體很棒。

As I said before, this is a completely different story depending on which version of English you speak.

正如我之前說(shuō)的，所說(shuō)英語(yǔ)不同這個(gè)故事的意義完全不同。

In the American version, I woke up, washed my face, put on some slacks and some suspenders (braces in British English), and put on a vest (a waistcoat in British English).

美式版本是我起床洗了臉，穿上長(zhǎng)褲，系上背帶(英式英語(yǔ)中背帶叫braces)，穿上馬甲(英式英語(yǔ)中馬甲叫waistcoat)。

In other words, I was dressed up in nice clothes for my appointment.

換句話說(shuō)，我為約會(huì)精心打扮了一番。

Then, on the way to the appointment, my car got a flat tire, but it was OK because I got a ride with my new neighbor, who was an athletic person.

然后，在趕赴約會(huì)的路上，我的車(chē)爆胎了，但沒(méi)關(guān)系，因?yàn)楹臀彝械男锣従邮莻€(gè)運(yùn)動(dòng)員。

In the British version , I woke up, did the dishes, and put on some underwear, stocking garters, and a sleeveless undershirt.

英式版本是我起床刷了碗，穿上內(nèi)衣、帶吊襪帶的襪子和無(wú)袖背心。

In other words, I wasn’t really dressed at all.

換句話說(shuō)就是基本上什么都沒(méi)穿。

Then I went across town to rent a new apartment by the university.

然后我穿過(guò)鎮(zhèn)上去租了大學(xué)旁邊的一個(gè)新公寓。

In the new apartment building, I got into a lift (an elevator in American English) with my new neighbor, who I found sexually attractive!

在新公寓樓里，我和新鄰居進(jìn)了電梯(美式英語(yǔ)中電梯叫elevator)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)這個(gè)鄰居很性感!