“schlong”

2016/01/05 08:41:19 網誌分類: 生活

05 Jan

        　　Have you ever heard of the word “schlong”? I am sure most of you have never heard of it. It is a slang word used in the US in a vulgar (rude, offensive, bad-mannered) way. I heard the word being used only once or twice during the many years I lived in the US. I have never seen the word in the American media but, all of a sudden, the US media and English-language media all over the world are using the word and explaining its meaning. The sudden popularity of the word began a few weeks ago when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump used it to insult his Democratic Party opponent Hillary Clinton. He said Clinton “got schlonged” by Barack Obama when both were competing to become the Democratic Party candidate for the 2008 presidential election.

        　　Trump’s use of the word shocked many Americans. The media also ridiculed (laughed at, mocked) him for using the word as a verb. The word “schlong” is a noun. It is a Yiddish slang word for penis. Yiddish is a language used by Jews. People who speak Yiddish do not use “schlong” as a verb, which means there is no such word as “schlonged”. After he was heavily criticized in the media for using such a vulgar word against Hillary Clinton, Trump accused the media of being dishonest. He said “schlonged” is not a vulgar word and when he said Clinton “got schlonged”, he meant she was defeated badly by Obama.

        　　Most people would, however, agree that saying “schlonged” is vulgar, especially when a man says it to a woman. But it is common nowadays in the English language to turn nouns into verbs. It is called “verbing”, according to the Oxford Dictionary. I gave an example of verbing in a recent column when I explained that the noun “party” is now often used as a verb too. Other examples are “e-mail” and “Google”. They are both nouns that can be used as verbs too. As I have said many times before, the English language, like many other languages, is evolving (changing).

        ＊＊＊

        　　你可有聽過“schlong”這個字？我肯定你們絕大部份人都沒有聽過。它在美國作俚語用，是相當粗俗（vulgar）的字詞。我住在美國多年，也只聽過一、兩次。我從未見過美國傳媒用這個字，可是突然之間，美國傳媒與世界各地的英文媒體卻鋪天蓋地用這個字、解釋它的意思。這個字突然爆紅，源於幾個星期前，共和黨總統參選人特朗普以此字來羞辱他的民主黨對手希拉莉。他說，二○○八年總統大選，當希拉莉跟奧巴馬競逐民主黨參選人之位時，她被奧巴馬“schlonged”。

        　　特朗普所用的字震驚許多美國人。傳媒也嘲笑（ridiculed）他把那字當動詞用。“Schlong”這個字是名詞，是意第緒語（Yiddish）的俚語，解陰莖。Yiddish就是猶太人所用的語言。說意第緒語（Yiddish）的人，不會將“schlong”作動詞用，也即是說，根本沒有“schlonged”這個字。特朗普用這樣粗俗（vulgar）的字眼攻擊希拉莉後，被傳媒猛烈抨擊，他卻控訴媒體太不老實。他說，“schlonged”並非髒話（a vulgar word），而當他說希拉莉“got schlonged”，他的意思是她被奧巴馬狠狠擊倒。

        　　然而，許多人都會同意，用上“schlonged”這個字是粗鄙的（vulgar），尤其是當男人向女人說時。但今時今日，英語裏的名詞作動詞用，卻很常見。根據牛津字典，這叫作verbing。我最近就曾在專欄中舉了一個「動詞化」（verbing）的例子，就是名詞“party” 現在也不時作動詞用。另一些例子是e-mail和Google，它們都是名詞，但也可作動詞用。正如我從前多次說過，英語，一如許多其他語言，一直在演化中（evolving）。mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯：七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

回應 (1)

我要發表

2016/01/06 22:17:02 回覆

Hi Michael,

Is it possible to add the corresponding video link in the page, I think it is more user friendly.

Regards,

Kenneth

“schlong”

網誌分類

最新網誌

月曆