词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Slangman: 'Hansel and Gretel'

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER -- wishing you good health over the holidays, with Slangman David Burke.

RS: Once again, just for our listeners, Slangman David Burke has rewritten a popular children's fairy tale to infuse it with some popular idioms -- this time, related to health and eating too much.

AA: ... a theme in this particular tale, which is also an opera that is often performed around Christmas.

MUSIC: "Hansel and Gretel: Dream Pantomime"/Boston Pops Orchestra

TAPE: CUT ONE -- BURKE/SKIRBLE/ARDITTI

BURKE: "Once upon a time there was a boy and girl named Hansel and Gretel who were 'bored out of their minds,' so they decided¹ to take a walk in the forest and got lost.

"Finally they saw a very unusual house. It was made of gingerbread and covered with cakes, and the windows were made of clear sugar. And they began to eat parts of the roof and windows. But then they suddenly heard an old woman's voice say, 'Who is eating my house?' 'Oh it's just the wind,' answered Hansel. Well, the woman was old but not totally 'out of it.' 'Out of it' means not completely coherent, not really thinking rationally.

"Well, suddenly the door opened and the old woman walked out. 'Oh, do come in and stay with me.' She took them both by the hand and led them into her little house. Then she gave them lots and lots of food to eat. They kept eating until they could not eat anymore.

"Well, Hansel was usually in 'tip-top shape' -- which means great physical condition -- but after eating so much he felt 'sick as a dog' and felt like he was 'running a fever.' That means to have a fever. He was nervous that he was going to 'lose his cookies.' Now that simply means to vomit². Why cookies, I don't know, but it's very common."

SKIRBLE: "And it's appropriate for this story."

BURKE: "Well, he felt like he would never 'bounce back.' Now that means to recover from being sick, to 'bounce back.' He felt really 'blah.' This is a great word. It's what we call an onomatopoeia, which simply is a word that sounds like what it means. So if you feel 'blah,' you have no energy, you just feel really terrible."

ARDITTI: "Spelled b-l-a-h."

BURKE: "Right. Oh, don't worry, his condition wasn't bad enough where he would have to 'go under the knife,' which means to have surgery. The last thing he needed was to go see some kind of 'quack³.'"

SKIRBLE: "And that's not a duck."

BURKE: "That's not a duck, although that is the sound a duck makes. However, a 'quack' means a doctor who's not very good. In fact, a really terrible doctor is a 'quack.' The feeling in his stomach would just have to 'run its course,' which means just go through its natural progress of being bad, and then finally curing itself.

"Well, Gretel felt a little 'under the weather' too. 'Under the weather' simply means kind of sick. She thought she may even 'pass out.' 'Pass out' simply means to faint.' Hansel said, 'Gretel, just mellow⁴ out. Take a chill pill', because when you're really tense you're hot, so 'take a chill pill,' relax. Well, early the next morning the old woman -- I mean, the witch -- quietly woke up Hansel and led him into a little room made of more candy. It was actually a cage!

"Gretel heard him screaming and rushed downstairs, but the witch said to her, 'Go take this food to your brother so he will become even more fat, and then I'm going to eat him!' The witch gave Gretel the 'willies' so she didn't dare disobey. Well, to give someone the 'willies' means to make them nervous."

SKIRBLE: "Or scared."

BURKE: "'Gretel,' screamed the witch, 'go inside the oven and make sure the pilot light is on.' Well, Gretel wasn't 'born yesterday' and said, 'you know, witch, I'm not myself this morning.' When you're 'not yourself,' that means you're not feeling very well, so she said to the witch, 'Can you show me how to light that pilot light?'

"When the witch got in, Gretel gave her a push, shut the door and fastened the bolt. Gretel quickly ran to Hansel's cage and let him out and said, 'Hansel, the witch kicked the bucket. She croaked⁶ in the oven.' Now I don't really know why to 'kick the bucket' would mean to die. To 'croak⁵,' that seems more normal,' because when a frog croaks⁷ it makes that sound of [throat sound]. (laughter) So if a frog dies, does the frog croak? Maybe not."

AA: Slangman David Burke comes to us from Los Angeles. Learn all about his different teaching materials on American slang at slangman.com. To reach us here, write to [email protected] or VOA Wordmaster, Washington DC 20237 USA.

RS: Next week -- welcome the New Year with some cowboy wordplay! With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

MUSIC: "Brother, Came and Dance with Me"/Disney Children's Favorite Songs

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 vomit   

v.呕吐，作呕；n.呕吐物，吐出物

参考例句：

• They gave her salty water to make her vomit.他们给她喝盐水好让她吐出来。
• She was stricken by pain and began to vomit.她感到一阵疼痛，开始呕吐起来。

3 quack   

n.庸医；江湖医生；冒充内行的人；骗子

参考例句：

• He describes himself as a doctor,but I feel he is a quack.他自称是医生，可是我感觉他是个江湖骗子。
• The quack was stormed with questions.江湖骗子受到了猛烈的质问。

4 mellow   

adj.柔和的；熟透的；v.变柔和；(使)成熟

参考例句：

• These apples are mellow at this time of year.每年这时节，苹果就熟透了。
• The colours become mellow as the sun went down.当太阳落山时，色彩变得柔和了。

5 croak   

vi.嘎嘎叫，发牢骚

参考例句：

• Everyone seemed rather out of sorts and inclined to croak.每个人似乎都有点不对劲，想发发牢骚。
• Frogs began to croak with the rainfall.蛙随着雨落开始哇哇叫。

6 croaked   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的过去式和过去分词 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• The crow croaked disaster. 乌鸦呱呱叫预报灾难。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• 'she has a fine head for it," croaked Jacques Three. “她有一个漂亮的脑袋跟着去呢，”雅克三号低沉地说。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

7 croaks   

v.呱呱地叫( croak的第三人称单数 )；用粗的声音说

参考例句：

• A burst of noisy croaks came from the pond. 从池塘里传来了一阵喧噪的蛙鸣。 来自互联网
• The noise in the zoo turned out to be the croaks of bullfrogs. 动物园里喧噪得很，原来是一群牛蛙在叫。 来自互联网