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主题：周末习语--Go like the clappers(英文版)
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Go like the clappers
Meaning
Go very fast; in a vigorous manner.
Origin
This term isn't common outside of the UnitedKingdom, and is now considered rather archaic even there. It originatedaround the time of WWII as RAF slang. The earliest citation I can findis from a 1942 newspaper piece by Associated News staff Writer AlfredWall, in which he listed various RAF slang terms:
"A pilot chased by the enemy 'goes like the clappers', or full out".
 What 'the clappers' refers to isn't entirely clear, although by far the most likelyderivation is as a reference to the clappers of bells. An early form ofthe phrase was 'go like the clappers of hell' and, given thatbells have clappers, it may be that it may that the rhyme of hell andbell is significant. RAF pilots were often from English public schoolswhere the ringing of handbells to mark the time was common. Bells wererung more vigorously as the time remaining to get to class/chapel etc.was about to run out. The image of schoolboys dashing to class whilehandbells were being energetically rung matches the meaning of thephrase very well.
There is another suggestion, that it was firstrabbits that 'ran like the clappers'. This notion comes from the Frenchword for a rabbit hole - clapier, which was adapted intoEnglish as clapper. Rabbit burrows, especially those that wereconstructed in order to breed semi-tame rabbits, (or conies, as theywere then called) were called clappers. This was known in the 15thcentury. For example, from the romantic poem Roman de la Rose, 1405:
"Conies... That comen out of her claperes."
The proposal has two significant flaws. Firstly, the phrase and the meaning don't match. Rabbit would have 'run from the clappers', not 'run l i ke the clappers'. Secondly, the 'rabbit-burrow' meaning has long beenarchaic and unused. The most recent example of its conversational usethat I can find in print is from 1725, although there are still someplace names that derived from this source - for example Sharpenhoe Clappersin the English Chilterns.. The phrase originated in the RAF in the mid20th century - long after clapper meant something else entirely.
希望大家能学到些东西。全英文，词友可以根据我给出的解释，说说你们对此习语的汉语解释。
上期周末习语参考翻译 http://sl.iciba.com/viewthread-69-475746-1.shtml 未被察觉的观察者 |
楼主 Date: 2008-09-13 05:00:47
