這樣的對(duì)話內(nèi)容熟悉嗎?因?yàn)榇蠹衣?tīng)“隨便”這個(gè)回答太多,所以后來(lái)有了“沒(méi)有‘隨便’這道菜”一說(shuō)。聽(tīng)到“還行”就知道其實(shí)就是“不好”的意思。你知道嗎?英語(yǔ)里其實(shí)也有這樣類(lèi)似的回答,而且更簡(jiǎn)潔呢,就叫meh(音同mei)。
Anyone who regularly uses chatrooms or instant messaging will almost undoubtedly be familiar with responses consisting only of this little sequence of three letters--meh. For the uninitiated, meh is a new interjection peppering news items, messageboards, chatrooms and blogs across the English-speaking Internet, and it's an informal linguistic equivalent of a simple shrug of the shoulders.
定期光顧聊天室或使用即時(shí)信息的人肯定對(duì)meh這個(gè)回復(fù)很熟悉。對(duì)于不太了解形勢(shì)的人來(lái)說(shuō),meh是新近在英文網(wǎng)絡(luò)新聞、論壇、聊天室以及博客中躥紅的一個(gè)感嘆詞,傳達(dá)的意思跟“聳聳肩”的意思差不多。
No one is completely certain how the use of meh originated, but most sources quote a 2001 episode of The Simpsonsas one of the earliest examples. Impossible to accurately define, meh is cropping up increasingly to mean something like a non-commital OK, whatever, if you want, I don't mind… Circumstances surrounding its utterance (and, if spoken, tone of voice) give it a more specific meaning, but in general terms, meh usually implies some kind of indifference to what has just been said.
關(guān)于meh這個(gè)用法的起源,沒(méi)有完全確定的說(shuō)法,不過(guò)大部分引源都顯示2001年《辛普森一家》的劇集中最早使用了meh這個(gè)說(shuō)法。雖然無(wú)法給出明確的定義,但meh這個(gè)詞在越來(lái)越多的場(chǎng)合表示心不在焉的“行”、“隨便”、“看你吧”、“我無(wú)所謂”等意思。說(shuō)這個(gè)詞時(shí)的具體場(chǎng)景(以及說(shuō)話時(shí)的語(yǔ)氣)可能會(huì)讓它具體的意思有所區(qū)別,但總的來(lái)說(shuō),meh通常表示對(duì)所聞之事漠然或不關(guān)心的態(tài)度。
For example:
'Want to go for a walk?' – 'Dunno … Meh.'
“想走走嗎?”——“不知道啊,隨便吧。”
'Do you like my new shirt?' – 'Meh.'
“我的新裙子怎么樣?”——“還行吧。”