1.
漢語里常說狼吞虎咽,那么英語里這個詞就是Dog,或者是wolf down something
例子:He dogged his hamburger and ran out the door to catch the bus.
在英聯(lián)邦國家审磁,如果提到狗食就會讓人想到亂七八糟的一種狀態(tài)涣狗,因為狗什么都吃碘裕;再者,喂狗的食品也不用事先切好纳令,多大一塊兒,狗都能吃克胳。這里就不放照片了平绩,看了之后整個人都感覺不好了。所以跟狗食相關(guān)的說法漠另,一般都指做得不好捏雌,或者非常糟糕的狀態(tài)。是一種很不正式的說法笆搓。
2
(like) a dog's breakfast/dinner
大雜燴腹忽,一團糟,非逞庾鳎混亂=something that has been done very badly
例子
She tried to cut her hair and made a real dog's breakfast of it.
You should have seen the ceiling after he'd finished painting it. It was a complete dog's breakfast.
I really need to clean out my closet—it's starting to look like a dog's breakfast in there.
同理窘奏,做狗食的人也是非常失敗
3
make a dog's breakfast/dinner (of something)
徹底失敗,徹底搞砸啦=To make a mess of or completely ruin something.
I thought I could trust Jim to finish the business proposal, but he made a dog's breakfast of the whole thing.
I thought I could trust Jim to finish the business proposal, but he made a dog's dinner of the whole thing!
4
done up/dressed up like a dog's dinner
指穿得花里胡哨的葫录,不合時宜着裹。跟衣服本身的價錢無關(guān),主要是效果讓人感覺不對
=wearing clothes which make you look silly when you have tried to dress for a formal occasion,
例子:There she was, all dressed up like a dog's dinner, in a ridiculous frilly shirt and a skirt that was far too short.
與之相對米同,穿得漂亮穿得光鮮亮麗的說法是:dress up like a peacock
5
雖然dress up和put on感覺很近骇扇,但是換個國家,意思就完全不一樣了面粮。在美國內(nèi)戰(zhàn)的時候少孝,有錢人家的女士通常都養(yǎng)狗做為寵物,lap dog熬苍,那種放在大腿上抱著的狗稍走。所以后來就用put on the dog來比喻假裝很富有。
put on the dog
耍派頭柴底、擺架子婿脸,在正式場合穿得非常好,假裝自己很富有柄驻。=act in a snobbish manner
例子: Frank's really putting on the dog for the big party Friday night. They really put on the ritz for us.
類似的說法 put on the ritz 擺闊氣(ritz本身就是“炫耀”的意思)
而Put on airs主要是指這個人自認為了不起狐树,假裝自己比別人強的行為。跟闊氣之類的穿著打扮沒有直接關(guān)系鸿脓。
6
據(jù)說全世界最好吃最便宜的狗食是美國生產(chǎn)的抑钟。所以狗食在美國沒有任何貶義涯曲,反倒讓人想到品牌。在美國公司內(nèi)部測試叫
eat (one's) own dog food=dogfooding
后來引申到軟件內(nèi)部測試里在塔。內(nèi)部測試可以為一家公司展示信息通信技術(shù)自身產(chǎn)品信心的一種方式幻件,和一種方式來測試它在現(xiàn)實世界中使用。因此內(nèi)部測試既可用作質(zhì)量控制也可以起到一種廣告的作用心俗。
有兩個可能的出處:在上個世紀80年代 Alpo dog food的廣告里傲武,演員Lorne Green用自己的狗吃這種產(chǎn)品,來促銷城榛。另外一個是Kal Kan Pet Food的總裁在股東大會上說自己吃了自己公司出產(chǎn)的狗糧揪利。
推而廣之,一個軟件公司的內(nèi)部測試狠持,主要測試研發(fā)的缺陷疟位,在發(fā)行前確保終端用戶的可操作性。這個短語被寫進很多公司的報告和公司內(nèi)部信件里喘垂。
例子:We didn't have time to eat our own dog food before the new operating system's release, so I'm worried it may still have a lot of glitches that haven't been accounted for yet.
這種說法得到了很多人的反對甜刻。對于內(nèi)部測試這件事情本身,也有很多人質(zhì)疑正勒,因為工程師掌握的信息跟終端用戶掌握的信息不一致得院,所以很有可能測試的時候沒發(fā)現(xiàn)問題,但是用的時候會出問題章贞。另外有的人不喜歡用狗做比喻祥绞,所以就有了如下的說法:
比如說IBM用“eating our own cook”
Pegasystems用"drinking our own champagne"
還有人把dogfooding這個詞改成icecreaming,就是為了聽起來想“消費”
學短語和諺語是一件很有趣的事。希望你讀我的系列文章不僅能夠記住這些英文短語和諺語鸭限,而且能夠從相關(guān)的故事中體會到異國文化蜕径,一些書本上沒有,生活里必知的知識败京。
本文為原創(chuàng)兜喻,未經(jīng)作者同意不得轉(zhuǎn)載,謝謝