【雅思趣味单词】英国上流社会绝对不会说的7个词汇

2015年04月24日17:49 来源：小站整理: 参与（0）阅读（4591）

摘要：英国对于阶级的界定非常分明，不同的阶级有着不同的行为模式，说话方式，乃是词汇的运用。Kate Fox曾经将上层社会对话时不会运用到的词汇称为“用词七宗罪”，那我们来看看到底是哪七宗罪吧。

小站前言：英国是一个阶级意识很强的国家，而它的语言也同阶级意识一样，上层贵族不会使用那些一点也不“gentle”的语言。下面，我们就来看看哪些词汇是被上层贵族“敬而远之”的词汇，他们称之为“The Seven Deadly Sins”(七宗罪)。

Pardon

Pardon在我们看来是最为普通也是普遍运用的词了，没听懂时来一句“Pardon?”问清楚说话人刚才说了什么。但是在英国的上层社会看来，这个词可是用不得的!Kate Fox提出来了这个小小的测试来分辨不同的阶级，但这也正体现出了英国人中存在的比较明显的阶级意识。

This word is the most notorious pet hate of the upper and upper-middle classes. Here is a good class-test you can try: When talking to an English person, deliberately say something too quietly for them to hear you properly. A lower-middle class will say "Pardon"; an upper-middle will say "sorry"(or parhaps "What- sorry?" or "Sorry- What"); but an upper class and a working class person will both just say "what"。

这个词被上层和中上层阶级视为眼中之沙。这儿有一个分辨阶级的好方法：当你和一个英国人说话的时候，说的快一点让他们听不清楚，那么这时，一个中下层阶级的人就会用“pardon”，而中上层阶级的人会用“What”或者“What-sorry”或者“Sorry-what”，上层阶级和工人阶级的人都会说“What”。

Toilet

"Toilet" is another word that makes the higher classes flinch or exchange knowing looks, if it is uttered by a would-be social climber. The correct upper-middle/upper term is "loo" or "lavatory"。

当一个想挤进上流社会的人说了个“Toilet”，立马会让上层社会的人为之色变。因为上流社会会用到“loo”或者“lavatory”，而非“Toilet”。

Serviette

It has been suggested that "serviette" was taken up by squeamish lower-middles who found "napkin" a bit too close to "nappy" and wanted something that sounded a bit more refined.Upper-middle and upper-class mothers gets very upset when their children learn to say "serviette" from well-meaning lower-class nannies, and have to be painstakingly retrained to say "napkin"。

有一个讲究的中下层阶级因为“napkin”的发音太像“nappy”，他想要一个听起来更优雅的词，便创造出“serviette”。所以当中上层以及上层阶级的人发现他们的孩子跟着处于好意的下层阶级保姆学会说“serviette”时，她们不得不费心思的将孩子们改回到说“napkin”。

Dinner

There is nothing wrong with the word "dinner" in itself: it is only a working-class hallmark if you use it to refer to the midday meal, which should be called "lunch". Calling your evening meal "tea" is also a working-class indicator: the higher echelons call this meal "dinner" or "supper"。

“dinner”这个词本身并没有问题，只不过这是一个工人阶级的特点，用“dinner”而不是“lunch”来形容午饭。将晚饭称之为“tea”也是工人阶级的一个特点，上层人士称其为“dinner”或者“supper”。

settee

You could ask your hosts what they call their furniture. If an upholstered seat for two or more people is called a settee or a couch, they are no higher them middle-middle. If it is a sofa, they are upper-middle or above。

你可以问问主人他们是怎么称他们的家具的。如果他们将那种能坐两个人或者更多人的椅子为“settee”或者“coach”，那么他们所属的不会高于中层阶级。如果他们称其为“sofa”，那么属于中上或者上层阶级。

Lounge

And what do they call the room in which the settee/sofa is to be found? Settees are found in "lounges" or "living rooms",sofas in "sitting rooms" or "drawing rooms". "Drawing room" used to be the only "correct" term, but many upper-middles and uppers feel it a bit silly and pretentious to call, say, a samall room in an ordinary terraced house the "drawing room", so "sitting room" has become acceptable。

那他们是怎么称呼放沙发的房间的呢，放settees的是"lounges" 或者 "living rooms"，放sofa的是"sitting rooms" or "drawing rooms"。"Drawing room" 曾经是唯一正确的形容这些房间的词，后来中上层的人们觉得用"Drawing room" 来形容房子里一个普通的小房间显得有那么点傻有点假，所以"sitting room"便成为了他们普遍接受的说法。

Sweet

Like dinner, this word is not in itself a class indicator, but it becomes one when misapplied. The upper-middle and upper classes insist that the sweet course at the end of a meal is called the "pudding"-never the "sweet", or "afters", or "dessert", all of which are declasse, unacceptable words。

跟"dinner"这个词一样，"sweet"本身并不是一个阶级标志，但是当它用错地方时，却成了这样一个标志了。上层和中上层阶级的人坚持认为餐后的甜点应该成为"pudding"而不是"sweet"，"afters", "dessert"，所有这些词都是下层阶级的人使用的，不被接受的词。