2019年经济学人 约翰逊语言专栏--政治对语言的影响(3)

 

The evolution of insults is the subject of Philip Gooden’s new book, “Bad Words”. He recounts in one neat reversal the turn in the history of invective¹. The Sun, a British tabloid², was once in the habit of outing gay people, and even publicly defended its use of “poof” in doing so (because, the paper argued, its readers used the word, too). How times change. After abandoning the practice of outing in 1998, in 2018 the paper led a campaign to track down a bus-driver who called a reality-show star a “poofter”. What it once considered lighthearted banter³ is now verboten homophobia.

菲利普·古登的新书《脏话》以侮辱性词汇的演变为主题。他讲述了谩骂史上一个巧妙的逆转。英国小报《太阳报》曾经有曝光同性恋者的习惯，甚至还公开为自己在这样做时使用“poof”一词进行辩护(该报认为，因为读者也使用了这个词)。时间飞逝。在1998年放弃户外活动后，《太阳报》在2018年发起了一场运动，追查一位称真人秀明星为“搞同性恋的poofter”的巴士司机。曾经被认为是愉快的玩笑，现在是被禁的恐同症。

Not everyone is happy with this modulation⁴ in the unacceptable. Some think it is a humourless and thin-skinned world that can’t handle a risqué dig now and again. Those purported⁵ stalwarts of robust⁶ free speech have inaugurated a new catalogue of insults: the “snowflake” who can’t take the heat; the “libtard” who can’t think beyond progressive dogma; the “social-justice warrior”, once a term applied⁷ by left-leaning types to themselves, now appropriated as a smear⁸.

并不是每个人都乐意接受这种调制方式。有些人认为，这是一个缺乏幽默感、脸皮薄的世界，无法应对时不时的下流挖苦。那些所谓的自由言论的中坚分子开创了一个新的侮辱目录：不能承受压力的“雪花”； 不能超越进步教条的“自由主义者”；“社会正义战士”，这个曾经被左倾分子用来形容他们自己的词，现在被用作诽谤。

Such people consider themselves “redpilled”, named after the red pill in “The Matrix” that allows characters to see the world as it truly is. When Hillary Clinton, running for president, unwisely referred to some Americans as “deplorables”, some of her critics embraced that term as a badge of honour—an ironic⁹ stance meant to contrast with their supposedly po-faced adversaries¹⁰.

这些人认为自己是“redpilled”，以《黑客帝国》中能让角色看到真实世界的红色药丸命名。当竞选总统的希拉里?克林顿不明智地把一些美国人称为“可悲的人”时，她的一些批评者把这个词当成了荣誉的象征——这是一种讽刺的姿态，旨在与他们理应面无表情的对手形成对比。

In a less buttoned-up age, some venerable slurs¹¹ are in decline. Less happily, they are being superseded¹² by tags based on identity politics. “Deplorables” versus¹³ “snowflakes”: in place of the old neuroses, the new lexicon¹⁴ of insults captures worrying divisions.

在一个不那么沉默寡言的时代，一些受欢迎的脏话正在消失。不幸的是，它们正被基于身份政治的标签所取代。“可悲的人”与“雪花”：取代了旧的神经症，新的侮辱词汇却抓住了令人担忧的分歧。

1 invective   

n.痛骂，恶意抨击

参考例句：

• He retorted the invective on her.他用恶言讽刺还击她。
• His command of irony and invective was said to be very classic and lethal.据说他嬉笑怒骂的本领是极其杰出的，令人无法招架的。

2 tabloid   

adj.轰动性的，庸俗的；n.小报，文摘

参考例句：

• He launched into a verbal assault on tabloid journalism.他口头对小报新闻进行了抨击。
• He believes that the tabloid press has behaved disgracefully.他认为小报媒体的行为不太光彩。

3 banter   

n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑

参考例句：

• The actress exchanged banter with reporters.女演员与记者相互开玩笑。
• She engages in friendly banter with her customers.她常和顾客逗乐。

4 modulation   

n.调制

参考例句：

• The soft modulation of her voice soothed the infant. 她柔和的声调使婴儿安静了。
• Frequency modulation does not allow static to creep in. 频率调制不允许静电干扰混入。

5 purported   

adj.传说的，谣传的v.声称是…，（装得）像是…的样子( purport的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• the scene of the purported crime 传闻中的罪案发生地点
• The film purported to represent the lives of ordinary people. 这部影片声称旨在表现普通人的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

7 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

8 smear   

v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑

参考例句：

• He has been spreading false stories in an attempt to smear us.他一直在散布谎言企图诽谤我们。
• There's a smear on your shirt.你衬衫上有个污点。

9 ironic   

adj.讽刺的，有讽刺意味的，出乎意料的

参考例句：

• That is a summary and ironic end.那是一个具有概括性和讽刺意味的结局。
• People used to call me Mr Popularity at high school,but they were being ironic.人们中学时常把我称作“万人迷先生”，但他们是在挖苦我。

10 adversaries   

n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• That would cause potential adversaries to recoil from a challenge. 这会迫使潜在的敌人在挑战面前退缩。 来自辞典例句
• Every adversaries are more comfortable with a predictable, coherent America. 就连敌人也会因有可以预料的，始终一致的美国而感到舒服得多。 来自辞典例句

11 slurs   

含糊的发音( slur的名词复数 )； 玷污； 连奏线； 连唱线

参考例句：

• One should keep one's reputation free from all slurs. 人应该保持名誉不受责备。
• Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian. 种族主义辱骂，种族笑话，都是跟亚裔有关的。

12 superseded   

[医]被代替的，废弃的

参考例句：

• The theory has been superseded by more recent research. 这一理论已为新近的研究所取代。
• The use of machinery has superseded manual labour. 机器的使用已经取代了手工劳动。

13 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

14 lexicon   

n.字典，专门词汇

参考例句：

• Chocolate equals sin in most people's lexicon.巧克力在大多数人的字典里等同于罪恶。
• Silent earthquakes are only just beginning to enter the public lexicon.无声地震才刚开始要成为众所周知的语汇。