又中又英｜Swifties

Swifties, as many teens and tweens know, means fans of megastar singer Taylor Swift. Most Swifties are young girls, but many young women and men are also Swifties. The word “teen” is short for a teenager. A tween or tweenager is a young person aged between eight and twelve. Teen and tween Swifties are not old enough to vote. But young people who became Swifties some years ago are now old enough to vote. Some US commentators say Swift could use her huge following of Swifties to swing the election on November 5.

A swing voter is someone who has not yet decided who to vote for. To swing the election means to influence the outcome of an election. Swift was apolitical (not interested in politics) when she first became popular but got involved in politics after Donald Trump became president in 2016. She endorsed some Democratic Party candidates in congressional elections. To endorse a candidate means to publicly support that candidate. She endorsed Joe Biden and voted for him as president in the 2020 election. She has not yet endorsed Kamala Harris who is running against Donald Trump after Biden decided not to seek reelection.

After Harris became the Democratic Party’s candidate to challenge Trump, many Swifties formed groups to swing the election by supporting her. Opinion polls show Trump and Harris are running neck and neck. This means both have an equal chance of winning. It is impossible to say at this time if Swifties can swing the election for Harris to win even if Swift endorses her.

Swifties，正如許多青少年（teens and tweens）所知，是指超級巨星歌手泰勒絲的粉絲。大部分的 Swifties都是少女，但亦有許多年輕女性和男性是 Swifties。Teen是teenager的簡寫，即青少年；a tween或tweenager則解作八至十二歲之間的少年人。青少年（teen and tween）Swifties 的年紀都不足以投票，但好些年前成為 Swifties的年輕人，現在都夠年紀去投票了。一些美國評論人說，泰勒絲可以運用她那龐大的 Swifties追隨者，去左右十一月五日的大選（swing the election）。

A swing voter就是舉棋不定、還未決定好投票給誰的人。To swing the election是指去影響大選的結果。泰勒絲起初走紅的時候是政治冷感的（apolitical），但自從唐納德特朗普於二零一六年就任總統之後，她就開始參與在政治當中。她在中期選舉裏有 endorsed 一些民主黨候選人——to endorse a candidate是指去公開支持一個候選人，為其背書。她在二零二零年大選中支持（endorsed）祖‧拜登，也投票給他讓他去做總統。自從拜登決定不競選連任以來，她還未公開表態支持（endorsed）與唐納德‧特朗普對壘的賀錦麗。

自從賀錦麗成為挑戰特朗普的民主黨候選人以來，許多 Swifties都聯群結隊去支持她，以左右大選的走向（swing the election）。民調顯示，特朗普與賀錦麗正是鬥得neck and neck ，意思是二人叮噹馬頭、旗鼓相當。就算泰勒絲本人現在出來為賀錦麗背書（endorsed），這一刻也很難說得準， Swifties能否左右大局（swing the election）到令賀錦麗勝出大選。

mickchug@gmail.com
Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻