第458期:A Slip of the tongue到底是什么意思呢

 　　New Words:

　　love interest:文中特指的是爱慕对象

　　Intention n. 意图；目的；意向；愈合

　　spoil¹ the image vt.破坏；

　　Slip n. 滑，滑倒；片，纸片；错误；下跌；事故

　　引申

　　Slippery² adj. 滑的；狡猾的；不稳定的

　　Slip of the tongue:舌头滑了一跤

　　Origin 俚语起源：

　　A slip of the pen was first reported to be used in the 1650s by a British man. He'd written a letter professing³ his unending love for Lady Catherine, his love interest. On opening the letter, she saw that he'd signed off the letter with the words "Within Love" instead of "With Love". When Lady Catherine related⁴ this to him days later, he'd laughed and said, "Oh, it was just a slip of the pen." Those around loved the expression and it caught on, and years later, around 1725, its sister phrase a slip of the tongue began to become more popular, as people also made mistakes while speaking not just while writing.

　　1650年代英国人首次使用 “A slip of the pen”。他写了一封信，表达他对爱慕对象Lady Catherine无限的爱。在打开信时，她看到他在信的末尾用了“在爱里”的字眼而不是“充满爱”。几天后，当Lady Catherine把这件事告诉他时，他笑了起来，说：“哦，那只是笔误。”人们很喜欢这个表达，这个俚语便流行起来。几年后，大约1725年的时候，它的姊妹篇“口误”开始变得越来越流行，因为人们不止在写作的时候犯错，说话时候也会。

　　Meaning：

　　1.an error in speaking in which the speaker says something unintentionally（不小心的口误）

　　2.an unintentional mistake in one's writing, such as incorrect spelling, choice of words, or meaning（不小心的笔误，比如拼写，用词及表达的意思等）

　　Example Sentences

　　1.I had no intention of saying that to her, it was a slip of the tongue.

　　我无意对她说那些，都是口误。

　　2.Slipping of the tongue may put you in trouble someday.

　　口误有时会让你陷入麻烦。

　　3.During the speech, one slip of the tongue spoiled the image of a great leader.

　　演讲中的一个口误会破坏一个伟大领袖的形象。

　　4.A slip of the tongue at the conference resulted in a big loss.

　　会议中一个口误会造成巨大的损失。

1 spoil   

n.战利品，赃物，奖品，掠夺，次品；vt.损坏，破坏，溺爱；vi.腐坏，掠夺

参考例句：

• Don't bunch the flowers up so tightly,you'll spoil them.别把花束得这么紧，会弄坏的。
• Overacting will only spoil the effect.表演过火，效果反而不好。

2 slippery   

adj.滑的；油滑的，狡猾的，不可靠的

参考例句：

• We found it very slippery under foot.我们感到地上很滑。
• Mind out,the steps are slippery!注意，台阶很滑！

3 professing   

声称( profess的现在分词 )； 宣称； 公开表明； 信奉

参考例句：

• But( which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. 只要有善行。这才与自称是敬神的女人相宜。
• Professing Christianity, he had little compassion in his make-up. 他号称信奉基督教，却没有什么慈悲心肠。

4 related   

adj.有关系的，有关联的，叙述的，讲述的

参考例句：

• I am not related to him in any way.我和他无任何关系。
• We spent days going through all related reference material.我们花了好多天功夫查阅所有有关的参考资料。