聊不完的“办公室八卦”

早上来到办公室，先去饮水机那里接杯水，恰好遇到其他部门的同事，于是闲聊几分钟。这样的场景大概每个办公室都会出现，可能闲聊的场地不一定在饮水机旁边，但英文中一直习惯用watercooler来指代同事们在办公室聊八卦的场所。

Watercooler games refer to discussions between co-workers, usually about non-work related things like office politics or suspected inter-colleague romances.

Watercooler games指同事之间有关办公室政治以及同事间恋情等非工作相关话题的议论，我们可称之为“办公室八卦”。

It's a classic workplace scene: Two or three co-workers arrive at the office watercooler more or less simultaneously and a brief — and ideally non-work-related — conversation ensues. Nowadays, these confabs are just as likely to break out in the coffee room, alongside the photocopier, or while waiting to use the fax machine. But the "watercooler" was long ago chosen as the symbolic location for spontaneous workplace chinwagging.

这个短语为我们展现的是办公室常见的一个情景：三两个同事前后来到茶水间，然后一些简短的寒暄就开场了，寒暄内容通常与工作无关。现在，这样的寒暄或闲聊可能会发生在咖啡间、复印机旁，或者等候使用传真机的间隙。但是watercooler（茶水间、饮水机）在很久以前就被选为办公室闲聊的标志性场所了。

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen）