词汇大师(Wordmaster)--'The Evasion English Dictionary'

Broadcast on COAST TO COAST: November 13, 2003

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster -- evasive maneuvers¹ in American English.

RS: Listening to a conversation on a train one day got Maggie Balistreri thinking. She became interested in the ways that Americans can say what they would like to say without actually having to say it.

AA: The result is an eighty-seven-page dictionary. "The Evasion² English Dictionary" has ten entries just for the word "like." Maggie Balistreri uses a few of them in this bit of dialogue:

BALISTRERI: "And I was like, no way."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's like, you know when you try to say something, but like."

"I know, I know. I did that the other day."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was like, oh my God, I know exactly what you're talking about."

RS: "Now could you break apart some of the phrases that you used and what 'like' means in the context of how you used it."

AA: "There were very subtle differences between all those uses there."

BALISTRERI: "I think the multimedia³ like is the most popular. And the multimedia like substitutes for the descriptives of what someone else said or what I felt. So rather than tell you what I felt, what I meant, what someone else meant and felt, I will act it out. And so the multimedia like translates as 'visual aid to follow.' 'Did you see what she was wearing? I was like ...' -- [translation] judge."

RS: "And another kind of like?"

BALISTRERI: "The cowardly like. We're so accustomed to appeasing⁴ and not rocking the boat, and accepting every opinion to the extent that we never express our own without undercutting it. So the cowardly like translates as 'I disagree. That is, if it's OK.' 'I don't want to, like, tell you what to do, but it just doesn't sound, like, nice.'"

AA: "How about, on the page before here, you have the self-effacing like."

BALISTRERI: "I think when we speak, we're ashamed to sound as though we're bragging⁵, and so if we want to state a plain fact -- something we do, something we believe in, something we value, something we believe is right -- we precede it with the word like and it signals shame. So the self-effacing like translates as 'virtue⁶ is shameful,' and examples are: 'No, I don't want to, like, betray her trust. I want to try to be more, like, considerate.' 'I work out, like, every day.' 'I volunteer for a few hours every week. I, like, care about the environment and stuff.'"

RS: "[laughter] You're pretty good!"

BALISTRERI: "And it's sad. That's the most heartbreaking of all of the likes, because I think it's not bragging if you state the plain fact and it's commendable⁷. So that 'like' is the saddest of all the likes."

AA: Now take another commonly used evasion: "whatever."

BALISTRERI: "I think whatever is snottier than like. Like is more ironic⁸ and whatever is more sarcastic⁹, overtly¹⁰ sarcastic. And what I prefer about whatever is that I can respond to it. It is overtly obnoxious¹¹. One category of whatever is the apathetic¹² whatever. Translation: 'yeah, so.' Examples: 'She said I was insensitive, and I was like, whatever.' 'Oh, I'm immature¹³? Whatever.' Would you like another example?"

AA: "Yeah, please!"

BALISTRERI: "The pseudo-impartial whatever. Translation: 'who am I to judge?' Examples: 'He doesn't work. He lives at home. His parents take care of him. Hmm, whatever.' 'She's dating the boss. Hmm, whatever.' 'He belongs to one of those religious, spiritual groups, cults¹⁴, whatever.' Or the self-pitying whatever. Translations: 'why do I always have to be the martyr¹⁵?' Examples: 'I don't know why it's called a group project, because I did all the work. But whatever.'"

RS: Then there are times when people say one thing but mean the opposite. For instance, when they say they "hate" to say something, it means they really have to say it.

BALISTRERI: "I came up with 'hate equals have' because I was having a conversation with an old friend and I said 'you know, I hate to say it, but ...' and he tartly¹⁶ replied, 'then don't.'"

RS: "Let me ask you, looking through your dictionary, do you have a favorite?"

BALISTRERI: "I think 'should equals won't,' as in I'll learn that somebody is learning yet another language and I think 'you know what, I should, I should totally learn another language.' And should equals won't in that, because if I wanted to, I would."

AA: Maggie Balistreri is a copy editor who was born in New York but spoke¹⁷ Italian at home as her first language. She's author of "The Evasion English Dictionary." She also has a language and poetry Web site, CafeMo -- that's c-a-f-e-m-o -- dot com.

RS: You'll find at link at voanews.com/wordmaster. And our e-mail address is [email protected]. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

MUSIC: "This Is My United States of Whatever"/Liam Lynch

1 maneuvers   

n.策略，谋略，花招( maneuver的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He suspected at once that she had been spying upon his maneuvers. 他立刻猜想到，她已经侦察到他的行动。 来自辞典例句
• Maneuvers in Guizhou occupied the Reds for four months. 贵州境内的作战占了红军四个月的时间。 来自辞典例句

2 evasion   

n.逃避，偷漏(税)

参考例句：

• The movie star is in prison for tax evasion.那位影星因为逃税而坐牢。
• The act was passed as a safeguard against tax evasion.这项法案旨在防止逃税行为。

3 multimedia   

adj.多种手段的，多媒体的；n.多媒体

参考例句：

• Multimedia is the combination of computer and video technology.多媒体是计算机和视频技术的结合。
• Adam raised the issue of multimedia applications and much useful discussion ensued.亚当提出了多媒体应用的问题，从而引发了许多有益的讨论。

4 appeasing   

安抚，抚慰( appease的现在分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争）

参考例句：

• Mr. Chamberlain had cherished the hope of appeasing and reforming him and leading him to grace. 张伯伦先生则满心想安抚他，感化他，教他温文知礼。
• A pleasing preacher is too often an appeasing preacher. 一昧讨好的传道人通常是姑息妥协的传道人。

5 bragging   

v.自夸，吹嘘( brag的现在分词 )；大话

参考例句：

• He's always bragging about his prowess as a cricketer. 他总是吹嘘自己板球水平高超。 来自辞典例句
• Now you're bragging, darling. You know you don't need to brag. 这就是夸口，亲爱的。你明知道你不必吹。 来自辞典例句

6 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

7 commendable   

adj.值得称赞的

参考例句：

• The government's action here is highly commendable.政府这样的行动值得高度赞扬。
• Such carping is not commendable.这样吹毛求疵真不大好。

8 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。

9 sarcastic   

adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的

参考例句：

• I squashed him with a sarcastic remark.我说了一句讽刺的话把他给镇住了。
• She poked fun at people's shortcomings with sarcastic remarks.她冷嘲热讽地拿别人的缺点开玩笑。

10 overtly   

ad.公开地

参考例句：

• There were some overtly erotic scenes in the film. 影片中有一些公开色情场面。
• Nietzsche rejected God's law and wrote some overtly blasphemous things. 尼采拒绝上帝的律法，并且写了一些渎神的作品。

11 obnoxious   

adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的

参考例句：

• These fires produce really obnoxious fumes and smoke.这些火炉冒出来的烟气确实很难闻。
• He is the most obnoxious man I know.他是我认识的最可憎的人。

12 apathetic   

adj.冷漠的，无动于衷的

参考例句：

• I realised I was becoming increasingly depressed and apathetic.我意识到自己越来越消沉、越来越冷漠了。
• You won't succeed if you are apathetic.要是你冷淡，你就不能成功。

13 immature   

adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的

参考例句：

• Tony seemed very shallow and immature.托尼看起来好像很肤浅，不夠成熟。
• The birds were in immature plumage.这些鸟儿羽翅未全。

14 cults   

n.迷信( cult的名词复数 )；狂热的崇拜；（有极端宗教信仰的）异教团体

参考例句：

• Religious cults and priesthoods are sectarian by nature. 宗教崇拜和僧侣界天然就有派性。 来自辞典例句
• All these religions were flourishing side by side with many less prominent cults. 所有这些宗教和许多次要的教派一起，共同繁荣。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

15 martyr   

n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲

参考例句：

• The martyr laid down his life for the cause of national independence.这位烈士是为了民族独立的事业而献身的。
• The newspaper carried the martyr's photo framed in black.报上登载了框有黑边的烈士遗像。

16 tartly   

adv.辛辣地，刻薄地

参考例句：

• She finished by tartly pointing out that he owed her some money. 她最后刻薄地指出他欠她一些钱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Kay said tartly, "And you're more Yankee than Italian. 恺酸溜溜他说：“可你哪，与其说是意大利人，还不如说是新英格兰人。 来自教父部分

17 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。