词汇大师-- Some Terms That Have Outlived Their Roots

　　AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: our guest is author Ralph Keyes (kize). His newest book about language has a mouthful of a title.
RS: It's called "I Love It When You Talk Retro: Hoochie Coochie, Double Whammy, Drop a Dime¹, and the Forgotten Origins of American Speech."
AA: "'Double whammy' and 'drop a dime.' Let's start with double whammy. What does that mean exactly?"

　　RALPH KEYES: "Well, this goes back to the old comic strip 'Li'l Abner' which put an amazing number of retro terms into our conversation. And Evil Eye Fleegle was a notorious hoodlum from Brooklyn in 'Li'l Abner,' and Evil Eye Fleegle would point one finger at someone that he wanted to demolish² and cast his evil eye on that person and lay them low.
"Now, when Evil Eye Fleegle decided³ to put both of his eyes on a person or object and point two fingers, this could stop a rushing locomotive or topple a skyscraper⁴. And this was a double whammy. And the only person who could withstand not just a single whammy but a double whammy was Mammy Yokum, Li'l Abner Yokum's wizened⁵ old mother who smoked a corncob pipe. And she would whirl and spin and totter⁶ around, but she was still standing⁷ when Evil Eye Fleegle tried to lay her low with a double whammy."
RS: "So a double whammy today would mean?"
RALPH KEYES: "Anything where two things lay you low. Let's say somebody decides to run for office and it turns out they have a residency problem and they're not old enough. That's a double whammy.
RS: "Or you could have the flu and other medical complications -- "
RALPH KEYES: "Sure."
RS: "at the same time. So you would be hit by a double whammy. What was the second ... "
AA: "It was drop a dime."
RS: "Uh-huh."
RALPH KEYES: "Drop a dime. Now this one is really problematic for kids who have grown up with cell phones because they don't recall, as you and I may, the glorious golden era of telephone booths. Making a call from a public telephone in a phone booth usually cost a dime. And so when we wanted to squeal⁸ on someone, to be a whistleblower and call the cops from a phone that couldn't be traced or where people couldn't see us, we would go into a phone booth, put a dime in and call the police. This is called dropping a dime."
RS: "Is it something that is still in use today?"
RALPH KEYES: "Well, the phrase is. We still talk about dropping a dime, to say that we're reporting someone, and then we become a dime dropper. But gosh, how many public phones are there out there anymore?"
RS: "Not many."
AA: "And they certainly cost more than a dime now. I think they're like fifty cents."
RALPH KEYES: "That's for sure."
AA: "You use the term in here, you talk about some all-American terms and one of them is 'Ozzie and Harriet.'"
RALPH KEYES: "Yeah."
AA: "Why don't you explain to people who maybe aren't familiar with old American television."
RALPH KEYES: "Well, this is a show from the fifties where Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Nelson ran what was considered to be the ideal American family in 'The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.'"
AA: "And they were real people, weren't they?"
RALPH KEYES: "Yeah, they were actually married to each other."
AA: "Right. And then they were also actors. But it wasn't like what we would today call -- "
RS: "And their kids were part of the ... they were a real American family."
(MUSIC)
TV ANNOUNCER: "And now, Hotpoint presents America's favorite family comedy, 'The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet' starring the entire Nelson family."
OZZIE: "Where's Rick?"
DAVID: "Well, he was with me a minute ago."
OZZIE: "Ricky?
RICKY NELSON: "I'm coming."
OZZIE: "Come on, breakfast is just about ready."
AA: "Today we'd say it would be like a reality show, but it wasn't a reality show."
RS: "No, it was all scripted."
AA: "It was scripted."
RALPH KEYES: "And in fact it was a fantasy show because people thought 'Oh, Ozzie and Harriet, that's the way a family ought to be.' And they still talk about that. You know, an 'Ozzie and Harriet' type of family where everything goes smoothly⁹ and the dad wears a cardigan sweater and the mom has an apron¹⁰ on and she's always bustling¹¹ through the kitchen door with a nice plate of warm brownies."
AA: Stay tuned¹² next week for more of our conversation with Ralph Keyes, author of the new book "I Love It When You Talk Retro."
RS: And that's WORDMASTER for this week. To learn more about American English, go to voanews.com/wordmaster. With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

1 dime   

n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角

参考例句：

• A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
• The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。

2 demolish   

v.拆毁(建筑物等)，推翻(计划、制度等)

参考例句：

• They're going to demolish that old building.他们将拆毁那座旧建筑物。
• He was helping to demolish an underground garage when part of the roof collapsed.他当时正在帮忙拆除一个地下汽车库，屋顶的一部份突然倒塌。

3 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。

4 skyscraper   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• The skyscraper towers into the clouds.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。
• The skyscraper was wrapped in fog.摩天楼为雾所笼罩。

5 wizened   

adj.凋谢的；枯槁的

参考例句：

• That wizened and grotesque little old man is a notorious miser.那个干瘪难看的小老头是个臭名远扬的吝啬鬼。
• Mr solomon was a wizened little man with frizzy gray hair.所罗门先生是一个干瘪矮小的人，头发鬈曲灰白。

6 totter   

v.蹒跚， 摇摇欲坠；n.蹒跚的步子

参考例句：

• He tottered to the fridge,got a beer and slumped at the table.他踉跄地走到冰箱前，拿出一瓶啤酒，一屁股坐在桌边。
• The property market is tottering.房地产市场摇摇欲坠。

7 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

8 squeal   

v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音

参考例句：

• The children gave a squeal of fright.孩子们发出惊吓的尖叫声。
• There was a squeal of brakes as the car suddenly stopped.小汽车突然停下来时，车闸发出尖叫声。

9 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

10 apron   

n.围裙；工作裙

参考例句：

• We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
• She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。

11 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

12 tuned   

adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• The resort is tuned in to the tastes of young and old alike. 这个度假胜地适合各种口味，老少皆宜。
• The instruments should be tuned up before each performance. 每次演出开始前都应将乐器调好音。 来自《简明英汉词典》