又中又英 | Expletives | 褚简宁
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!
＊＊＊＊＊＊
若一个从前的朋友（erstwhile friend）用脏话（expletives）批评你，你应作何反应？这样的事情，几年前发生在我身上。一个从前的朋友（erstwhile friend）在一个WhatsApp聊天群组，用脏话（expletives）批评我，因为他不喜欢我的政治见解，而那个群组亦包括我许多其他的香港朋友。当时我在录制我在无线的中文节目，我的联合主持叫我无视那些批评。我听取了她的意见，同时离开了那个群组。An erstwhile friend就是昔日的朋友。Expletives就是粗言秽语，例如f..k。
纽约市的新市长曼达尼，将自己界定为民主社会主义者，当他说美国总统特朗普本应取得国会的认可去进攻委内瑞拉时，被右翼批评者猛烈批评。他的批评者指控他为共产主义者，站在左翼的领袖如委内瑞拉总统马杜罗的一边。美军捉拿了马杜罗，将其带返纽约去面临关乎毒品的控罪。曼达尼的批评者有时会用上谚语“birds of the same feather flock together”去攻击他，这个谚语的意思是，物以类聚，人以群分，就像有相同羽毛的鸟会一起飞，有类近信念与背景的人也常彼此为伍。
曼达尼的批评者用这句谚语，去说他与共产主义者为伍。一些曼达尼的支持者则言，他应该叫他的政敌pound sand——to pound sand是粗俗的说法，去叫人滚开、去死吧。曼达尼并没有叫他的批评者去死（pound sand），但亦用上尖刻的狠话去嘲笑他的对手。我好应叫我那位用脏话（expletives）攻击我的昔日朋友（erstwhile friend）去滚蛋（pound sand）！
[email protected]
Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻
