city slickers 談Google 翻譯狄更斯名著《匹克威克外傳》(1837)效果極不好..... butter-fingers, flummox, sawbones, whizz-bang Dickens's very first novel, The Pickwick Papers from 1837

 Dickens's very first novel, The Pickwick Papers from 1837

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/580/580-0.txt

"Not to Put Too Fine a Point Upon It": How Dickens Helped ...

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2012/02/03 - Dickens's very first novel, The Pickwick Papers from 1837, introduced such slang terms as

 butter-fingers ("a clumsy person"), 

Butterfingers
MeaningA name playfully applied to someone who fails to catch a ball or lets something slip from their fingers.Origin

In the week of the bicentenary of Charles Dickens' birth (7th February 1812), I thought it would be nice to include a phrase coined by him. It ought not to be too difficult to find one, after all, Dickens ranks sixth on the 'number of English words coined by an individual author' list. Passing over contenders like 'slow-coach' and 'cloak and dagger' I alighted on 'butterfingers', which several authorities say was invented by Dickens. Not quite a phrase but, as it was coined as the hyphenated 'butter-fingers', it's close enough. Dickens used the term in The Pickwick Papers (more properly calledThe Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club), 1836:

At every bad attempt at a catch, and every failure to stop the ball, he launched his personal displeasure at the head of the devoted individual in such denunciations as 'Ah, ah! - stupid' - 'Now, butter-fingers' - 'Muff' - 'Humbug' - and so forth.

It seemed as though that was all there was to say about the word/phrase but, as I usually like to add a little more, I delved further. The British Library's excellent new database of 19th century newspapers turned up a reference to 'butter-fingers' in the Yorkshire newspaperThe Leeds Intelligencer dated May 1823. Pre-Pickwick, clearly. Looking closer, it appeared that the writer was quoting from what he called 'a scarce book' - The English Housewife. Delving again, I found that the book, written by the English writer Gervase Markham in 1615, scarce as it may have been in 1823, is still available today. Markham's recipe for a good housewife was:

'First, she must be cleanly in body and garments; she must have a quick eye, a curious nose, a perfect taste, and ready ear; she must not be butter-fingered, sweet-toothed, nor faint-hearted - for the first will let everything fall; the second will consume what it should increase; and the last will lose time with too much niceness.

Markham's views aren't quite what would be accepted now, any more than his remedy for the plague - 'smell a nosegay made of the tasselled end of a ship rope', but he does at least make it clear that 'butterfingers' was in use in 1615 with the same meaning we have for it today, that is, someone likely to drop things - as if their hands were smeared with butter, like a cook's.
Many of the later examples of 'butterfingers' in print relate to the game of cricket, which was and still is the principal ball-catching game in England. The term is often used as an amiable taunt when someone fails to make an easy catch. As the word spread to other countries, notably America, it was taken into the language of the local catching game, i.e. baseball, and 'no-hoper' teams were unkindly given that name. The Salt Lake Tribune reported on such a team in May 1899:

'The Butterfingers will cross bats with the Salt Lake Juniors at Calder's Park Tuesday'.

As for Dickens, he may have missed out on 'butterfingers' but he has many other words and phrases to lay claim to, and he did write some exceedingly good books.

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flummox ("bewilder"), 

flummox

verb [T] INFORMAL

to confuse someone so much that they do not know what to do:

I have to say that last question flummoxed me.Meaning #1: be a mystery or bewildering to

flummoxed

adjective

INFORMAL

He looked completely flummoxed.

flum·​mox | \ ˈflə-məks  , -miks \

flummoxed; flummoxing; flummoxes

Definition of

 flummox

transitive verb

: CONFUSEHe was flummoxed by the legal jargon.a happy innocent who had been flummoxed by wily city slickers— Andy Logan

slicker

/ˈslɪkə/

noun

North American English

1. 1.

   a raincoat made of smooth material.
2. 2.

   informal

   a person who is smooth and persuasive but untrustworthy.

   "a permatanned slicker who involves her in embezzlement and fraud"

Did You Know?

No one is completely sure where the word flummox comes from, but we do know that its first known use is found in Charles Dickens' 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers and that it had become quite common in both British and American English by the end of the 19th century. One theory expressed by some etymologists is that it was influenced by "flummock," a word of English dialectical origin used to refer to a clumsy person. This "flummock" may also be the source of the word lummox, which also means "a clumsy person."

‘That ain’t no part of the present consideration, Sammy,’ replied Mr.Weller. ‘Verever he’s a-goin’ to be tried, my boy, a alleybi’s the thing to get him off. Ve got Tom Vildspark off that ‘ere manslaughter, with a alleybi, ven all the big vigs to a man said as nothing couldn’t save him. And my ‘pinion is, Sammy, that if your governor don’t prove a alleybi, he’ll be what the Italians call reg’larly flummoxed, and that’s all about it.’

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"Not to Put Too Fine a Point Upon It": How Dickens Helped ...

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2012/02/03 - Dickens's very first novel, The Pickwick Papers from 1837, introduced such slang terms as butter-fingers ("a clumsy person"), flummox ("bewilder"), sawbones ("surgeon"), and whizz-bang ("sound of a gunshot"). Again, some of ...

狄更斯 1837 年出版的第一部小說《匹克威克外傳》引入了一些俚語，例如 butter-fingers（“笨手笨腳的人”）、flummox（“使困惑的人”）、sawbones（“外科醫生”）和 whizz-bang（“槍聲”）。再一次，一些......

‘That ain’t no part of the present consideration, Sammy,’ replied Mr.  Weller. ‘Verever he’s a-goin’ to be tried, my boy, a alleybi’s the thing to get him off. Ve got Tom Vildspark off that ‘ere manslaughter, with a alleybi, ven all the big vigs to a man said as nothing couldn’t save him. And my ‘pinion is, Sammy, that if your governor don’t prove a alleybi, he’ll be what the Italians call reg’larly flummoxed, and that’s all about it.’ 第33章

Google 翻譯

「這不是目前考慮的問題，薩米，」維勒先生回答。 “無論他是否要接受審判，我的孩子，一條小巷都是可以讓他逃脫的方法。”我已經讓湯姆·維爾德斯帕克擺脫了那起過失殺人案，

alleybi，ven 所有大人物都對一個人說，沒有什麼可以救他。而我的觀點是，薩米，如果你的州長不能證明自己是一條小巷，他就會像意大利人所說的那樣，經常感到困惑，僅此而已。

錄音    那不在目前的考慮範圍之內，山米，威勒先生答道，無論他是在哪兒受審，我的孩子，證明不在現場可以使他擺脫關係。我們使湯姆威爾斯巴斯免除了殺人罪，用的就是證明不在現場的招數，而當時所有的律師都說他是沒救了。我的看法是，山米， 假如你的東家不採取不在場證明，他就會像義大利人所說的那樣倒楣定了，此外再沒有別的結果。

sawbones ("surgeon"), and   39章

  

Google 翻譯

聽到這話，那位年輕女士匆匆瞥了一眼

可怕的聲音發出的地點；和她之前的

當她看到一個男人在人群中時，她的驚慌絲毫沒有減少。

樹枝，她肯定會逃跑，驚慌失措

房子，沒有恐懼幸運地剝奪了她的權力

移動，使她跌倒在花園座椅上，

恰好好運就在眼前。

「她要走了，」薩姆十分困惑地自言自語道。 '沃特

這是事實，因為這些年輕的生物將會暈倒

這正是他們不該做的事。 來吧，年輕的女士，Sawbones 小姐，

文克爾夫人，不要這樣！

Google 翻譯「她要走了，」薩姆十分困惑地自言自語道。這是怎麼回事呢？來吧，年輕的女士，Sawbones 小姐，Vinkle 夫人，不要這樣！

Upon this, the young lady cast a hurried glance towards the
spot whence the dreadful sounds proceeded; and her previous
alarm being not at all diminished when she saw a man among the
branches, she would most certainly have decamped, and alarmed
the house, had not fear fortunately deprived her of the power of
moving, and caused her to sink down on a garden seat, which
happened by good luck to be near at hand.

‘She’s a-goin’ off,’ soliloquised Sam in great perplexity. ‘Wot a thing it is, as these here young creeturs will go a-faintin’ avay just ven they oughtn’t to. Here, young ‘ooman, Miss Sawbones, Mrs. Vinkle,don’t!’

這一段是描寫昏倒過去的情形

她昏過去了 山姆大為惶恐地自言自語道，這是什麼回事呢？這些年輕女子啊，不該昏的時候偏昏。，姑娘，雞骨頭小姐，溫克爾太太，別昏啊，

由於烏克這個名字的魔力還是由於露天與空氣的清涼？

Google 翻譯「她要走了，」薩姆十分困惑地自言自語道。這是怎麼回事呢？來吧，年輕的

whizz-bang ("sound of a gunshot"). Again, some of ..第2章

‘Present! think I was;* fired a musket--fired with an idea--rushed into
wine shop--wrote it down--back again--whiz, bang--another idea--wine
shop again--pen and ink--back again--cut and slash--noble time, Sir.
Sportsman, sir?’ abruptly turning to Mr. Winkle.

'So have I,' said the stranger. 'Epic poem--ten thousand lines
--revolution of July--composed it on the spot--Mars by day,
Apollo by night--bang the field-piece, twang the lyre.'

'You were present at that glorious scene, sir?' said Mr. Snodgrass.

'Present! think I was;* fired a musket--fired with an idea--
rushed into wine shop--wrote it down--back again--whiz, bang
--another idea--wine shop again--pen and ink--back again--
cut and slash--noble time, Sir. Sportsman, sir ?'abruptly turning
to Mr. Winkle.
         [* A remarkable instance of the prophetic force of Mr.
         Jingle's imagination; this dialogue occurring in the year
         1827, and the Revolution in 1830.

'A little, Sir,' replied that gentleman.

「我也是，」陌生人說。 「史詩——萬行

——七月革命——在火星上創作的——白天，

夜晚的阿波羅－敲響野戰砲，彈奏七弦琴。

“先生，您親眼見證了那輝煌的一幕嗎？”斯諾德格拉斯先生說。

'展示！想想我當時的心情：* 用一個想法發射了一把火槍——

衝進酒肆——記下來——又跑回來——咻，砰

——另一個想法——又回到酒館——拿起筆和墨水——又回來了——

砍砍殺殺－這是高尚的時刻，先生。運動員，先生？

給溫克爾先生。

 [* 先生的預言能力的一個顯著例子。

 金格爾的想像力；此次對話發生於

 1827 年以及 1830 年革命。

「有一點，先生，」那位先生回答。