上集說到潮語「O嘴」、「潛水」和「屈機」,「O嘴」可以用someone's jaw drops表示,指驚訝、驚恐,以及驚喜。驚喜的例子還有:
Peter told Owen he could copy his homework. Owen's jaw dropped, eyes filled up with tears immediately, and gave Peter a big hug.
Peter同奧雲講佢可以抄佢鴷課,奧雲驚喜得掉下巴,眼裡充滿淚水,然後攬了攬Peter。
Jaw作動詞解「嘮叨」
若要用someone's jaw drops來表達「恐懼」,可以這樣寫:
David told me not to go to that cyber cafe anymore because it's haunted. Honestly I could see his jaw drop and his eyes bulged right out.
大衛叫我唔好再去黧◇籈a,因為鶣蛈陸迭C講真,我見佢驚到下巴都跌埋,嚇到眼凸。
Jaw這個字是可以用作動詞的,意思是嘮叨、責罵,你可以這樣用:
My mum jawd me all day about my playing computer games.
我阿媽因為我打電腦遊戲而話鬻琣角憿C
潛水disappear 蒲頭show up
而「潛水」當然不可直譯diving啦,潛水的意思是某人因一些原因突然間消失一段時間,英文字面譯作disappear。相反的「蒲頭」,則可以用show up:
Wow, I haven't seen you for ages. It's like you have disappeared. What made you show up today?
哇,我無見你成個世紀咁滯,你潛髐籉n耐,今日點解會蒲返頭?
至於「屈機」原本是指運用本身的聰明,看穿利用電子遊戲中的漏洞,或用不當的手段達到目的,過關或者取得佳績。現在則指以超強的實力,達到贏的結果。英文可以說out of the league:
Superb Team wins because it is simply out of league.
勁聯隊贏了,因為佢實在係超班。
當你「被屈機」後,有個最口語的講法是:You just got owned! Own本身解「擁有」,但亦可解「令人尷尬」、「令人受辱」、「打敗」。
屈機靠實力非符碌
有不少人問我,可不可以以fluke表示「屈機」,呢個字所強調的是「僥倖」,例如幸運地取得佳績,等於廣東話中的「符碌」(fluke的音譯),和「屈機」的意思不大一樣。
這個字是名詞,可以這樣造句:
It's just a fluke that Nathan becomes our chairman.
Nathan成為我]鴷D席純粹出於僥倖。
現在你知道了「O嘴」、「潛水」和「屈機」的用法,就可以用英文潮起來啦!■岑皓軒 騎呢領隊
作者簡介:畢業於英國Imperial College London,著有親子育兒書《辣媽潮爸哈哈B》及與馬漪楠合著暢銷書《Slang:屎爛英語1&2》等。
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