2019年经济学人 约翰逊语言专栏--政治对语言的影响(1)（在线收听）

Books & arts

来源于《图书和艺术》版块

Johnson

约翰逊语言板块

Sticks and stones

棍棒和石头

The polarisation of politics is producing a new lexicon of insults

政治的两极化正在产生一系列新的侮辱性词汇

Think of the most taboo insult that is possible in English. Chances are you have one of just a few words in mind. Now consider the following anecdote. In 2016 a defendant in an English courtroom told the judge, Patricia Lynch, that she was “a cunt”. To which the judge, on the record, thought fit to reply: “You’re a bit of a cunt yourself.”

想想英语中最忌讳的侮辱。很可能你脑子里只有几个词。现在考虑一下下面的轶事。2016年，英国法庭的一名被告告诉法官帕特里夏·林奇，她是一个混蛋。根据记录，法官认为可以这样回答：“你自己确实有些混蛋。”

Supposedly the 20-megaton nuke of swear words, still considered by some people unacceptable at any time, the C-word does not pack the blast it once did. Samantha Bee, an American comedian, used it on her news show to refer to Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, inciting only a short-lived controversy. Numerous British television presenters have mistakenly substituted it, on air, for the surname of Jeremy Hunt, who was for a time culture secretary. (Anticipating the “c” in “culture” may have been responsible for early slips of this type, but they mysteriously continued after Mr Hunt became health secretary.) None of the presenters has been disciplined.

据说2000万吨级的脏话核武器，仍然被一些人认为在任何时候都是不可接受的，这个C字母打头的词已经不像从前那样有震撼力了。美国喜剧演员萨曼莎·比在她的新闻节目中用这个C字母打头的词来指代总统的女儿伊万卡·特朗普，这只引发了一场短暂的争议。许多英国电视节目主持人在直播时错误地用它代替了杰里米·亨特（Hunt）的姓氏，亨特曾是《时代》杂志的文化部长。(预料到“文化culture”中的“c”可能是造成早期这类口误的原因，但在亨特先生成为卫生部长后，这些口误神秘地继续着。)这样说的人都没有受过训练。

The words that shock have changed. An English law of 1606 forbade profane references on stage to God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. Today such imprecations cause barely a batted eyelash (even if high-profile cases of perceived blasphemy still rile the devout in places such as Russia). Later, words related to sex and the body were the most likely to offend. The word “bloody” set off a gale of laughter at the London premiere of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” in 1914. Now it is hardly worth remarking upon.

令人震惊的话已经改变了。1606年的英国法律禁止在舞台上亵渎上帝、耶稣基督和圣灵。如今，这样的咒骂几乎不会引起人们的注意(尽管在俄罗斯等地，一些大张旗鼓的亵渎事件仍然激怒了虔诚的信徒)。之后，与性和身体有关的词汇是最容易有冒犯的意思。1914年，在伦敦举行的萧伯纳的《卖花女》首映式上，“血腥的bloody”一词引发了一阵狂笑。现在它几乎不值得评论了。