又中又英——knock it off

　　A reader emailed to ask about an expression he heard while watching the news on an English TV channel. He heard someone use the expression "knock it off" but could not understand what it meant. This is a slang expression with a very simple meaning. It means "stop it". The expression is used when someone does something that annoys you. If two of your friends always argue when you go out with them, you can say "knock it off". I started using this expression a lot when anti-extradition protests began last summer. Some of my friends supported the protests. They belong to the so-called yellow camp. Others supported the government and belong to the blue camp.
　　The two camps had a lot of arguments on our WhatsApp chat group. I never joined the arguments but told them to knock it off. Eventually, I exited the group. There are many idioms and expressions with the word "knock". One slang expression is "knock your socks off". This expression is used when something is very exciting, impressive, or good. If a restaurant serves very good food at a reasonable price, you can say the restaurant knocked your socks off. Another expression is "knock some sense into" someone. This expression means to try hard to make someone not to be silly or to make that person start to behave sensibly.
　　If your friend has no musical talent but wants to leave his good job to be a singer, you can try to knock some sense into him. Another expression is "knock the habit". This means to give up something harmful that you have done for a long time. If your girlfriend smokes, you can tell her to "knock the habit", which means to stop smoking. Telling people to stop smoking is easier said than done. This means it's easy to tell someone to stop smoking but it's hard for them to do it. It's easier said than done for me to stop drinking wine!
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　　一位读者传电邮来，问及他最近在英语电视频道上看新闻报道时听到的一个习语。他听到有人用上习语“knock it off”，但不太明白这话的意思。这是一个俚语，意思很简单，就是「够了，停止吧！」（stop it）。这是当有人做一些打扰着你的事时，便可以用到这个习语。要是你有两个朋友常常在你们一起外出的时候争吵，你便可以说“knock it off”。上年夏天，自反《逃犯条例》示威以来，我便开始经常用到这个习语。我的一些朋友支持示威，他们属于所谓的黄丝阵营；另一些朋友则支持政府，属于蓝丝阵营。
　　两个阵营的人在我们的WhatsApp群组有许多的争论。我从不参与争论，只会叫他们别吵了（knock it off）。最终，我退出了那个群组。“Knock”这个字还可以有许多的成语和习语，其中一个俚语是“knock your socks off”，它是用来形容某事令人非常兴奋、刮目相看，又或是很厉害的。若一间餐厅的食物很好吃，价钱又相宜，你便可以说那间餐厅knocked your socks off。另一个习语是“knock some sense into”someone，它的意思是迫使某人别那么糊涂，又或使那人学懂一些道理、做事理智一些。
　　若你的朋友毫无音乐天份，却想辞职去做歌手，你可以尝试逼他清醒、理智一点（knock some sense into him），别乱发白日梦了。另一个习语是“knock the habit”，意思是戒除一些长期的恶习。若你的女友吸烟，你可以叫她去“knock the habit”，意即叫她戒烟。叫人戒烟是 easier said than done，意即说易行难，叫人戒烟是易的，但他们真正要戒掉烟瘾是很难的。要我戒酒，同样是说易行难（easier said than done）！
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中译：七刻
Michael Chugani 褚简宁