又中又英 | Expletives | 褚簡寧
How should you respond if an erstwhile friend uses expletives to criticize you? It happened to me some years ago. An erstwhile friend used a WhatsApp chat group which also includes many of my other Hong Kong friends to criticize me with expletives because he disliked my political opinions. I was recording my former TVB Chinese show at the time. My co-host asked me to ignore the criticism. I took her advice and left the chat group as well. An erstwhile friend is a former friend. Expletives are foul words, such as f..k.
New York City’s new mayor Zohran Mamdani, who defines himself as a democratic socialist, was fiercely criticized by his rightwing critics when he said US President Donald Trump needed approval from Congress to attack Venezuela. His critics accused him of being a communist who sided with leftwing leaders such as Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, who US forces captured and took to New York to face drug-related charges. Mamdani’s critics sometimes use the proverb “birds of the same feather flock together” to attack him. The proverb means people with similar beliefs or backgrounds always associate with each other.
Mamdani’s critics used the proverb to say he associates with communists. Some Mamdani supporters said he should tell his political opponents to pound sand. To pound sand is a rude way to tell someone to go away, get lost, or to go to hell. Mamdani has not told his critics to pound sand but has used sharply critical language to ridicule his opponents. I should have told my erstwhile friend who used expletives against me to pound sand!
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若一個從前的朋友（erstwhile friend）用髒話（expletives）批評你，你應作何反應？這樣的事情，幾年前發生在我身上。一個從前的朋友（erstwhile friend）在一個WhatsApp聊天群組，用髒話（expletives）批評我，因為他不喜歡我的政治見解，而那個群組亦包括我許多其他的香港朋友。當時我在錄製我在無綫的中文節目，我的聯合主持叫我無視那些批評。我聽取了她的意見，同時離開了那個群組。An erstwhile friend就是昔日的朋友。Expletives就是粗言穢語，例如f..k。
紐約市的新市長曼達尼，將自己界定為民主社會主義者，當他說美國總統特朗普本應取得國會的認可去進攻委內瑞拉時，被右翼批評者猛烈批評。他的批評者指控他為共產主義者，站在左翼的領袖如委內瑞拉總統馬杜羅的一邊。美軍捉拿了馬杜羅，將其帶返紐約去面臨關乎毒品的控罪。曼達尼的批評者有時會用上諺語“birds of the same feather flock together”去攻擊他，這個諺語的意思是，物以類聚，人以群分，就像有相同羽毛的鳥會一起飛，有類近信念與背景的人也常彼此為伍。
曼達尼的批評者用這句諺語，去說他與共產主義者為伍。一些曼達尼的支持者則言，他應該叫他的政敵pound sand——to pound sand是粗俗的說法，去叫人滾開、去死吧。曼達尼並沒有叫他的批評者去死（pound sand），但亦用上尖刻的狠話去嘲笑他的對手。我好應叫我那位用髒話（expletives）攻擊我的昔日朋友（erstwhile friend）去滾蛋（pound sand）！
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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻
