又中又英 | A bunch of baloney | 褚简宁
How would you respond if a person tells you something that you know is nonsense, totally untrue, or absurd? There are many ways in the English language to respond, either politely or in a rude way. A polite way is to tell that person what he said was poppycock or hogwash. Both words mean nonsense. Or you can respond by saying that's a “bunch of baloney". This American slang expression means nonsense or lies. The word "baloney" also means a type of cold meat you can put in a sandwich.
If you want to be less polite, you can tell that person what he said was a load of bull. This expression is used to describe something that is untrue, stupid, or nonsensical. If you want to be rude, you can say that's a “load of crap" or "bullshit". The words "crap" and "shit" both mean faeces (feces in American English). I recently heard an American political commentator use the expression "crock of shit". This is a very rude expression that also means nonsense, lies, or an exaggeration. I don’t use this expression and prefer to simply use "bull" instead.
A crock is a clay or ceramic pot for storing or preserving food. A large crock was also sometimes used as a toilet during the days before plumbing or flushing toilets. Many people frequently use words such as bullshit nowadays. They no longer consider such words rude. The Internet and social media have normalized these rude words to such an extent that many people will continue using them.
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如果有人告诉你一件事，你却知道那是胡说、完全不真确或荒唐的，你会怎样回应？在英语里，有许多方法可以回应，不论是有礼或无礼的方式。有礼的方式是告诉那人他所说的是 poppycock或hogwash，两个字都解作胡说八道、废话。又或者你可以回应，那是a bunch of baloney。这是一个美式俚语，意指一派胡言或鬼话连篇。Baloney也可以指你放在三文治里的波隆那香肠，是冻肉的一种。
如果你不想那么有礼，你可以跟那人说他所说的是 a load of bull，这个习语是用来形容某事是不真确的、愚蠢又或荒谬的。若你想非常无礼，你可以说那真是a load of crap或bullshit。Crap和shit两个字都指粪便。我最近就听到一个美国政治评论员，用上习语crock of shit，这是个非常粗鄙无礼的说法，也是解作狗屁、谎话、又或夸大其词。我不会用这个习语，情愿简单用bull就好了。
A crock是用来储存食物的瓦罐或陶器。在还没有管道系统与抽水马桶之前，一个大的crock有时也会用来做马桶。现在有许多人频繁用bullshit这些字，已不再视这些字为粗鄙无礼的。网络和社交媒体已将这些粗鄙的字常态化，以至有许多人都会继续使用这一类的字词。
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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻
