趣味俚語|「until the cows come home」不是直到牛回家

until the cows come home.

你知道這句話是什麼意思嗎?

可不要直譯成直到牛回到家!

Aha

和漢語一樣,

英語裡面也有很多與動物相關的俚語,

一起來看看吧!

趣味俚語|“until the cows come home”不是直到牛回家

Till/until the cows come home

=for a very long time

趣味俚語|“until the cows come home”不是直到牛回家

為什麼要等牛回家呢?牛走路給人的印象是慢吞吞的(unhurried pace)的,等待它們回家需要很長的時間,因此這個俚語的意思就是很長時間,也可引申解作永遠。

例句:I could sit here and argue with you till the cows come home, but it wouldn't solve anything.

我可以坐在這裡和你一直和你爭論下去,但這解決不了任何問題。

monkey business

= behaviour that is not acceptable or is dishonest

趣味俚語|“until the cows come home”不是直到牛回家

monkey給人的印象就是很不受控、愛胡鬧的,而business是工作的意思,兩個字合在一起用時,是指不道德或者是不合法的行為,輕一點可以指胡鬧、狡猾的惡作劇,重一點可以指非法的勾檔。

另外和monkey 有關的俗語是:

to make a monkey out of somebody (把某人弄得好像一個傻瓜一樣)

monkey on the back (戒不掉的癮)

例句:I think there's some kind of monkey business going on in that house. People are going in and out all day long; maybe they're selling drugs or something.

那間房子總是有人在進進出出的,我猜應該有毒品販賣之類的非法勾當。

put the cart before the horse

= to do things in the wrong order

趣味俚語|“until the cows come home”不是直到牛回家

把車擺在馬的前面?有沒有懷疑此句前後顛倒了?馬拉車,當然是車應該在馬的後面,不能把車放在馬的前面了(put the cart before a horse),所以此句俚語意思就是做事情順序錯了,又引申為本末倒置。

和馬相關的俚語還有:

hold one's horses (拉住馬韁,讓馬停住不動的意思,引申用來指稱別急,等一下)

someone can eat a horse (形容某人非常餓)

work like a horse. (認真工作、做牛做馬)

例句:In his view, people spend far too much time putting the cart before the horse.

在他來看,人們老是本末倒置。

when pigs fly

= said when you think that there is no chance at all of something happening

趣味俚語|“until the cows come home”不是直到牛回家

當豬會飛的時候?豬怎麼可能會飛!這和中國俗語裡“母豬也會上樹”是一個意思,就是表示絕不可能的事,帶有挖苦嘲弄語氣。

“when pigs fly”為美式說法,英式說法是“pigs might fly”(豬可能會飛)。

和豬相關的俚語還有:

when pigs have wings (豬長出翅膀時,一樣是絕對不可能的意思)

buy a pig in a poke (購買裝在袋子裡的豬,意思是沒驗貨就買下,事後才發現上當)

趣味俚語|“until the cows come home”不是直到牛回家

例句:

A: Do you think John will have the guts to go traveling alone?

A:你覺得John有勇氣自己一個人去旅遊嗎?

B: Yeah, when pigs fly! He is a mama's boy.

B:絕對不可能,他是個媽寶男。


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