第1298期:英文中的 blah blah blah,中文怎么说?

英语口语中有个好玩的说法 blah blah blah,你肯定听到过,用一个毫无意义的词blah 来替代一堆毫无意义的废话。

看个例句:

They said, “Come in, sit down, blah, blah, blah, sign here.”

这句话怎么翻译成中文?仔细想想,好像没那么容易。欢迎留言。

You use blah, blah, blah to refer to something that is said or written without giving the actual words, because you think that they are boring or unimportant. (Collins Dictionary)

这是个美国英语俚语,大约出现于1920年代,大概源自19世纪英语中的blab一词,意思是喋喋不休,动词是泄密、胡扯(spill the bean)。现代英语中这个词还很常用,blab, blabber, blabbing, blabby. 一大堆听起来就觉得心烦意乱很碎嘴子的词。

有趣的一点是,英文中最常见的说法是连说三个blah blah blah,也有说两个blah blah的,也有只说一个blah的,意思都一样,但连说三个的最常见。

Blah (blah blah)作名词:silly talk, worthless talk, nonsense, rubbish, trash

Blah (blah blah)作动词:talk nonsense, talk shit.

Blah (blah blah)作形容词:boring, uninteresting

看个例句:

What they say is blah. 他们放屁。(这是佛老随意的翻译,不必当真。)

这个词值得讲的大概就这些东西了。

最后一个问题,你觉得中文里怎么对应blah blah blah呢?我能想到的是东北人说的嘚吧嘚嘚吧嘚。不知道你老家的方言里有没有类似的说法?

小结今天的内容:

People say blah, blah , blah, when they do not want to give the exact words that someone has said or written because they think they are not important or are boring.