Michael Chugani 褚簡寧 - Silly Season｜又中又英
2020/01/24 04:13:17 網誌分類: 生活
The silly season, therefore, means the summer when newspapers are full of trivial news because there is not enough important news, especially important political news. I read a funny news report recently that reminded me of the silly season. A Canadian buyer was negotiating to buy grain from a farmer. The buyer wrote a contract for the grain, signed it, and texted a copy of the contract to the seller. The seller responded with a “thumbs up” emoji but did not ship the grain. The buyer took the seller to court, saying a “thumbs up” means the seller had agreed to the contract.
The seller disputed this, arguing his “thumbs up” only meant he had received the text message but was expecting a fax or email so he could review and sign the contract too. The judge, however, ruled a “thumbs up” meant the farmer had agreed to the contract. Legal experts now say people should think before responding with emojis such as a handshake or OK. To me, the judge’s ruling was silly.
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又到了一年的這個時候了，就是被稱為「無聊季節」（silly season）的時節。新聞工作者都很害怕（dread）無聊季節（silly season）。學校會在夏天停課放一至兩個月暑假。大部份人，包括政客，也會在暑期度假。因此夏天就會缺乏新聞（dearth of news），尤其是政治新聞。Dearth是缺乏、不足，a dearth of news就是不夠新聞。但新聞工作者還是得找足夠的新聞去充撐報紙的版面，因此他們畏懼（dread）這無聊季節（silly season）。在夏天，他們會找一些無關痛癢的瑣碎（trivial）新聞去填滿報紙版面。
因此，silly season是指到了夏天的時候，報紙滿是無聊瑣碎的（trivial）新聞，因為根本沒有足夠的重要新聞，尤其是重要的政治新聞。我最近就讀到一個有趣的新聞報道，令我想起了無聊季節（silly season）。一個加拿大的買家早前跟一個農夫協商，要向對方買穀物。買家為了那批穀物制定了一份合約，簽了，傳了合約的一個副本給那位賣家。賣家回了一個「豎大拇指」的表情符號，但並沒有送運穀物。買家將賣家告上法院，說「豎大拇指」是指賣家已經同意合約。
賣家爭論，反指他「豎大拇指」僅僅代表他已收到訊息，但還在等着傳真或是電郵，好讓他能細閱及簽署合約。然而，法官裁定，「豎大姆指」的意思是農夫已經確認了合約。法律專家現在說，人們傳出表情符號例如握手或OK前，好應三思。於我而言，法官的裁決是愚蠢的。
mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧 - Silly Season｜又中又英
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