剝花生等睇戲

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11/03/2012

剝花生等睇戲 毛孟靜

歷史總會重複,我們的舊文化把花生跟戲掛鈎,今日, 「剝花生等睇戲」成了網上潮語。

剝花生,to shell peanuts。或說,既然通常會講to crack nuts(敲開堅果),為什麼不也說to crack peanuts?問題是,花生殼不硬,未至於要crack,同時要注意,花生儘管叫peanut,卻不是nut,而是豆類,bean。

Peanuts are not nuts, but beans.

再問,剝花生這個剝的動作,可用to peel、to scale 代替嗎?就是不大適合。

You don’t peel a peanut, you peel a banana.剝蕉的皮。

You don’t scale a peanut, you scale a fish.「剝」魚的鱗。

大家都會注意到,西方人看戲的隨身零食,尤其在美國傳統中,是爆谷(popcorn)。要用英文講「剝花生等睇戲」, 可一試”grab my popcorn for the show”,但或未能一下子表達原意的「興興頭頭作壁上觀」、以至「擔櫈仔霸頭位」的心情。

擔櫈仔霸頭位,直譯get a stool(櫈仔)and grab a front-row spot。但因為外頭人不知道「擔櫈仔」的典故,無端端提起a stool,人家會不明所以, 不如就淨講grab a front-row spot、grab a front seat, 霸頭一排、前排座位。

這番「霸」,英文講grab(抓、搶)就得。

Let’s be there early and grab seats at the front. 我們早去,霸前排座位。

意思自然是有好戲上演,做好準備以免「執輸」。「等睇好戲」的心情姿態,不就是期待得等不及了,can’t wait、couldn’t wait。

I just can’t wait to see what happens next. 我熱切期待看下一回如何分解。

I just couldn’t wait to see how she would respond to this. 我等不及要知她會怎麼回應。

而做好準備, 是be prepared、get prepared,更有preparedness 做名詞:

Emergency preparedness is important. 為緊急情况做好準備,很是重要。

以免執輸,是not to lose out。

You don’t want to lose out on this. 在這事上,你不要執輸。

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