Tuesday, March 09, 2004

胡言乱语

语言是很有意思的东西

比如说“almost certain"这种说法,老美经常说,但我总觉得you are either certain or not certain. You can't be 50% certain, nor can be over-certain. If you are half certain, then you are uncertain. To me, almost certain is just not certain.

Another interesting word is "playoff". Doesn't "playoff" supposed to refer to the time to rest and stop playing?? But every NBA, NFL, NHL players are dying to play in the Playoffs. Why don't they just changed the word to "playon"?

中文里的有些词也很有意思。
比如说“反革命”这个词,反革命嘛,就是反对革命。但如果某人现在去中国闹革命,估计法院还是判他反革命,尽管那个人一点都不反对革命,是100%pro-革命。

“反动”也是一样的道理。政府总说民运“反动”,尽管民运分子比谁都喜欢搞运动。

很多东西不禁考究,但胡思乱想的乐趣也是有的。

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