如果你觉得某人的话语很无聊,你可以称之为hogwash(胡言乱语,无聊的废话)。
公元1440年,hogwash首次出现在英语中,其本义是“垃圾,厨房的泔水,用来喂猪的馊水”。单词hogwash中的wash表示“废水,废弃的液体”,比如刷锅水或洗脚水。
大约到了1712
年,hogwash成了廉价酒精饮料或其他不值钱的东西(如糟糕的小说)的代称。到了19世纪初期,hogwash在记者之间流行起来,被用来攻击同行所写的“垃圾”报道,从那时起,hogwash有了“蒙蔽性的言论”和“华而不实的空洞宣言”的含义。
到了后来,hogwash的含义进一步延展,被用来表示“无聊、错误或荒谬的话或文章”。下面是hogwash的一些同义词或近义词:applesauce,
balderdash, baloney, bilge, blague, blah, blather, blatherskite, bosh,
bull, bunk, bunkum, bushwa, claptrap, cobblers, codswallop, crock,
double-talk, drip, drivel, drool, eyewash, fiddle-faddle, fiddlesticks,
flapdoodle, flimflam, flummadiddle, fudge, gas, gook, guff, hogwash,
hokum, hooey, horsefeathers, hot air, humbug, jazz, jiggery-pokery,
malarkey, meshuggaas, moonshine, piffle, pishposh, poppycock, punk, rot,
rubbish, slipslop, tomfoolery, tommyrot, tosh, trash, trumpery, twaddle,
whangdoodle, and windbaggery.
(中国日报网站译)
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