又中又英
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又中又英

big league?“bigly”?

2016/10/25 08:41:22 網誌分類: 生活
25 Oct
         Did Donald Trump use the word “bigly” during his third and final debate with Hillary Clinton? Many viewers who watched the debate live on TV thought he had said “bigly”. People unfamiliar with this word thought it was a neologism invented by Trump. After he used the word, there was a sudden search spike on the internet for the word’s meaning. Trump has said many times that if elected president, he would deport the millions of illegal immigrants now living in the US. During the debate he claimed President Barack Obama had deported millions of people. He said Hillary Clinton doesn’t want to admit it but “that’s what’s happened, bigly”. Many viewers said Trump had also used the word “bigly” in the first debate. But is “bigly” a word and did Trump really use it?

          The word “neologism” means a newly-invented word or expression. The word “spike” has many meanings but used this way it means a sudden big increase in something. For example, a spike in oil price means a sudden big rise in the price of oil. A search spike means a sudden big increase in the number of people searching for something on the internet. To deport means to send people back to their countries of origin. After viewers wondered if Trump had said “bigly” during the first and third debates, experts said “bigly” is indeed a word which originated in the 1400s but is no longer used. The experts said the word “bigly” is an adverb that originated from the adjective “big”. It means “large” or “of great importance”.

          Experts, however, agree that Trump did not say “bigly”. He said “big league” instead but his New York accent made it sound like “bigly”. The expression “big league” means the highest level of a particular sport, business, or other things where there is a lot of competition. For example, Apple and Samsung are in the big league in the mobile phones business. But when Trump uses this expression, he means doing something in a big way. When he said Obama was deporting people “big league”, he meant Obama was deporting people in a big way.

        * * *

         到底特朗普在與希拉莉的第三次、也是最後一次的辯論中,可有用到“bigly”這個字? 許多看電視直播辯論的觀眾,都認為他說的是“bigly”。不熟悉此字的人,以為它是特朗普所創的新詞(neologism)。他用了這個字後,就其字義的網上搜尋突然飆升(sudden search spike)。特朗普說過很多遍,若他當選總統,他會將現居於美國、數以百萬計的非法入境者驅逐出境(deport)。在辯論期間,他宣稱總統奧巴馬也已驅逐了(deported)上百萬人出境。他說希拉莉不想承認,但「這是已經發生了的事,bigly。」許多觀眾也說特朗普在第一次辯論中也用過“bigly”這個字。但“bigly”到底是不是一個字,而特朗普又究竟有沒有真的用上這個字?

         Neologism就是指新創的字或習語。Spike有幾個意思,在這裏是指某事物急遽大幅上升。譬如,“a spike in oil price”就是指油價突然大幅攀升。“A search spike”意即突然有大量的人上網搜尋某事物。“ To deport”就是將人趕回他們的原居地。觀眾很疑惑特朗普於第一和第三次辯論中是否真的說了 “bigly”一字,專家則指,“bigly”確實是一個字,源於1400年代,但現在已經沒人再用了。專家又說, “bigly”是個副詞,來源自形容詞 “big”,即是巨大或者偉大的意思。

         可是,專家卻認為特朗普並不是說“bigly”這個字。他說的是“big league”,但他的紐約口音卻使之發音像“bigly”。習語“big league”意指在體育、商業或其他範疇裏,於劇烈的競爭中脫穎而出、達至超然的地位或水平。譬如,蘋果和三星就在流動電話市場中地位超然(big league)。但當特朗普用這個習語時,其意思卻是很大規模地做某事。當他說奧巴馬was deporting people“big league”,他是指奧巴馬也有大規模地將人驅逐出境(deporting)。

          *許多讀者提議我在專欄中包含讀音,我的編輯終於找到法子了。由今日開始,我的專欄會加上 QR code,你只須用手機掃描 QR code,就可以聆聽我朗讀專欄的錄音。希望這能幫助大家改善英文字詞的發音。mickchug@gmail.com

        中譯:七刻

        Michael Chugani 褚簡寧

        
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