![](http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/images/mobile_lt.gif) put on the dog: 耍派头,卖弄
[ 2006-04-03 08:30 ]
英语中与“狗”相关的表达似乎有点泛滥成灾,信手拈来的如:a lucky dog(幸运儿);top dog(当权派);dog in the manger(占着茅坑不拉屎)。今天谈的to put on the dog表示“耍派头;卖弄”,它的渊源可追溯到19世纪贵夫人豢养的哈吧狗。
美国内战后,即19世纪中叶到20世纪初,一大批暴发户相继涌现,他们为了耍阔往往花很多钱去买一些品种罕见的哈巴狗。当时耶鲁大学的学生就创造了to put on the dog来嘲笑那些整日炫耀爱犬的阔太太。举个例子:
John is sure putting on the dog since his rich aunt died and left him 10 million dollars. He's bought the biggest house in town and a Mercedes 600, and talks about buying some riding horses.(约翰的阿姨去世后给他留了一千万美元遗产,这下他可有资本耍阔了。他买了城里最大的一栋房子和一辆梅赛德斯600,他还说要买几匹马供他骑玩呢。)
另外,如果您看到to go to the dogs,可千万别受“to put on the dog”(耍阔)的影响。Go to the dogs意思是:“潦倒;破产”。比如说,
I always thought my friend Pete had a good future. But then he got hooked on heroin and lost his job and his wife--I never saw a man go to the dogs so fast!(我总以为我的朋友皮特是很有前途的,但是后来他吸上了毒品,失去了工作,妻子也走了。我从来没有看到过任何人落魄得这么快!)
(中国日报网站编译)
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