英语口语词汇讲解：mardy! 怨妇!

Mardy. M-A-R-D-Y.

今天来说说Mardy，M-A-R-D-Y这个词。

I heard it first, years ago, somewhere in Birmingham, I think, or was it Wolverhampton? But it's certainly that sort of area, but it's moved in all directions.

我首次听到人们使用mardy是在多年前的伯明翰，应该是，又可能是伍尔弗汉普顿吧（记得不是很清楚了）;但是肯定是从那一带开始流传开的，反正，后来到处都可以听到这个词。

It moved north into Lancashire and Yorkshire and right up into the north of England, and because it started to be used on certain television programmes like 'Coronation Street', it got to be known in the south of England as well, and I've heard people in the south use it now.

先是北方的兰开郡和约克郡的人们开始使用这个词接着它又直接北上被传到了英国北部；当它出现在电视节目像是《加冕街》上的时候，南方人也开始用这个词，我就在

街上听到过。

It's an adjective - 'you mardy cow!', for instance, somebody might say - quite a strong adjective really.

Mardy是个形容词,例如我们可以说,“You mardy cow!”——可以听出，mardy是个

感情色彩很强的形容词。

It means, you know, you whinging, sulking, whining, petulant, pathetic, moaning, grumpy ... there are lots of adjectives that do this kind of thing - surly, you cry baby, stop feeling sorry for yourself ... that's the implications of the word mardy.

这个句话的意思是“你这个老爱抱怨、老爱生闷气、脾气暴躁、可悲的、无病呻吟的、易怒的家伙--在这里还可以用上很多形容词，如脾气乖张，爱哭鬼，别在这自怨自艾啦--这些就是mardy这个词的言下之意。

But there's something quite succinct and punchy about the word, which words like

'whinging' don't quite have.

但是这个词在表达上更简洁有力，而像whinging(抱怨不止；哀鸣) 这一类的词是做不到的。

So, 'stop being mardy' is rather more effective in some people's speech than 'stop complaining'.

所以在讲话中用stop being mardy(别再怨声载道了！)要比用stop complaining语气更强。

And as a result, it's been used in quite a few idioms, people say 'you've got a mardy on', meaning you've got a real mood on today, a sulky mood on today, or 'you're in a right mardy' I've heard people say.

这是因为这样，mardy经常被用在惯用语当中，如you’ve got a mardy on--是说，“你今天情绪不怎么好呀”，看起来一脸郁闷，或者（我也听过别人这么用）,“你今天心情不错嘛”；

- often with a regional accent because these words sometimes sound better, you know, 'right mardy, you are!' - that kind of thing, where you get the effect from the regional voice too.

说的时候通常会带点地方口音，因为这样的话效果可能更好，就像这样“right mardy,you are”，你可以从中听出说话人的语气。

The origins? Again, as many of these regional words are, quite unclear.

要追踪溯源的话，就像很多地方性语言一样，mardy的来源，我们还不是很清楚。

Some people think that it comes from the word mard, meaning spoilt.

很多人认为它来自单词mardy(被惯坏了的)。

There are references back to the 1920s for it - unspoilt, mard.

你可以在20世纪九十年代找到例证，你会发现在那时就存在着这样一个单词，mard （完好的；未被损坏的）。

Well, that comes from the Standard English word mar, to mar, to mar something. M-A-R.

Mard来自标准英语mar，动词，to mar something(损坏某物) 。

And that's true of quite a lot of these regional words, you know, they sometimes have a quite long-standing relationship with Standard English, but it takes a while to find out about it.

像mardy一样，很多方言词汇有时候跟标准英语有着深远的渊源，当然，这可不是一时就可以弄明白的。

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