聊一聊interesting的用法

2022-05-15 03:05

Interesting是一个有意思的单词，在朗文、牛津以及麦克米伦等传统词典中，它的意思是“有趣的，吸引人的”，但在实际使用中单词衍生出了不少其他意思，比如用于表示讽刺、怀疑、不耐烦等（特别是在英式英语中）。推特上一个专门研究英国文化的博主@VeryBritishProblems就给出了单词的好几种可能含义：

词典网站vocabulary.com对于interesting也有一个很有意思的解释：

The adjective interesting describes something that makes you curious, or catches your attention, but sometimes people use the word in a doubtful way when they are taken aback but want to be polite. Like if your grandmother looks at your new tattoo and says, "Well, that's certainly interesting!" Chances are she's not actually feeling very enthusiastic about your choice of body art.

即人们有时候会用interesting来礼貌地表达反对，比如你的奶奶不喜欢你的纹身，出于礼貌可能会说"Well, that's certainly interesting!"实际上她是在说她不喜欢你的纹身。

在英式英语中类似interesting这样意思模糊的表达还有一些，比如with the greatest respect, I’ll bear it in mind, I hear what you say等。国外网站yougov.com针对英美两国的人做了个调研，发现英国人和美国人对上述的这几个表达的理解存在不少分歧。

举个例子，根据词典上的解释，with the greatest respect一般用于正式场合礼貌地表示异议，相当于“恕我直言”。但根据调研结果，有68%的英国人认为这句话的潜台词相当于"I think you are an idiot. "而只有40%的美国人持相同的看法。

又比如对于"I'll bear it in mind"，有55%的受调研英国人认为这句话相当于I've forgotten it already. 而有43%的美国人认为这句话意思是I will probably do it.

如果有一名英国人对你说"you must come for dinner"，那么他究竟有没有在邀请你去吃饭？有超过半数的英国人认为对方只是在说说而已，不能当真，但有41%的美国人相信对方真的是在发出吃饭邀请。

那么，如何分辨这些表达的真实含义呢？最好的办法是结合语境和上下文来推断，有时候还要根据对方说话的语气、表情和肢体动作来综合判断。保险一点的方法是在口语中要谨慎使用这些表达，以免产生误解。

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