King's "Dinah's Hat"

Read “Dinah’s Hat,” a new short story by Stephen King in The Atlantic

“I was holding myself together, but just barely. In time, maybe I’d be able to convince myself that never happened.”

文化差異

電影臥虎藏龍在我們這邊上映時，我們朋友幾個人結夥去戲院看。我們這些人有來自台灣、韓國和美國。電影看完後，走出戲院時老美朋友說他不懂結尾那女的為何要跳崖。

幾年前有次我在個老美朋友家作客。他之前本來是訂有線電視，他聽我說我早把有線電視退了，換訂串流，每個月省很多錢，於是他也照著做。那次我在他家一起看串流電視，他看到一個中國電影就點了來看。我忘了是他想看，還是特地放給我看，反正我也跟著看那電影。

電影內容大致是男主角打小在親戚家住。他喜歡他的表姐，長大後變成單戀。表姐在一個公司聚會裡頭被她的老闆下藥侵犯。男主角得知後殺了這位老闆。他被捕在入獄前算是對他的表姐表達愛意，然後要他的表姐等他出獄。結局是這位表姐一臉哀怨的搭了火車離開這城市。

看完電影後我的朋友說那女的幹嘛要離開？也是不懂。

One Hundred and 09/100

現在很少在開支票了。許多年前朋友在開支票時出了錯，用文字寫的錢數是他要開的，但是數字部份好像是寫錯，多了十倍（比如本來應該是 $10，但是寫成 $100）。於是他收到一封銀行寄來的信，大致上是說支票上的文字數目部份和阿拉伯數字數目不符合，銀行以數目低的文字數目來結算。他把那封信給我看，所以我才知道這件事。

沒想到今天這事也發生在我身上。太久沒開支票了，本來要開的是 $109 的支票，偏偏文字數目那行我寫成 One Hundred and 09/100 (Dollars)。開完支票後我一直覺得有地方不對勁，這期間支票我也檢查了幾次，但是又看不出哪裡有問題。

支票存入ATM後我又拿收據上印的支票圖樣又看了一次，啊，發現錯誤了。我真的不知道哪根筋不對，我寫完 109.00 後在寫 One Hundred 時本來應該接著寫 Nine，偏偏我把 09 挪到後頭，變成九分錢 (09/100)。

就看明天銀行會如何處理。

現在又稍微想起來，也或許我朋友那時犯的是和我一樣的錯誤......

* * * *

後記

查了銀行紀錄，是以 $109.00 結算。

I thought I'd just ask ...

“Instead of ambushing, I thought I’d just ask you over for dinner.”
https://imgur.com/a/y1UUhHJ
https://imgur.com/IRKSLDx

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/i-thought-that
I thought (that)
used when you are politely suggesting something to do

I thought we’d go swimming tomorrow.
I thought we could meet for lunch.

Google News Audio Briefing

我那年代一般是用收音機聽 ICRT 電台新聞廣播練英文聽力。現在則是有 AI 播報新聞快報。
我手機有這功能一陣子了，今天無聊試聽了一下。說真的，若不是在播報時說明了是 "AI hosts" ，我還真的聽不出這不是真人播報。

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL上的一篇文章: One Doctor's Lonely Quest To Heal Brain Injury
~~http://biz.yahoo.com/wallstreet/070926/sb119076442562439330_id.html?.v3~~
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119076442562439330

裏頭我有興趣的是這句:

During his time at Clark, Dr. Stein was given to jeans, long hair and shooting his mouth off in faculty meetings or challenging guest speakers, even eminent ones. "Eyebrows would go up whenever Don's hand would go up," recalls...

畫底線之後的部分我讀了好多遍，雖然後頭的意思比較好抓，但是到底什麼是"...was given to jeans, long hair"?本來按照之前的內容他在學校不大如意，那麼我就猜也許這是在說學校把他派給穿牛仔褲留長髮的學生，但是意思不是很合理。又讀了幾遍之後，覺得應該是在說他的"習性"--他當時是穿牛仔褲和留長髮的，只是我不記得"give"有這用法，所以上了Longman ONLINE查give，卻找不到這字義和這用法。後來繼續查其他的字義→given (adj)，天殺的，居然在這裡!

Longman ONLINE

given (adjective)
......
3 be given to (doing) something formal to tend to do something, especially something that you should not do:
- He was a quiet man, not usually given to complaining.

雖然都是基本單字，但是整個片語卻是正式用法。

pump switching

https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/energy/articles/warning-pump-switching-scam-spreads-180500439.html
或是 YouTube 然後用這字串搜尋：pump switching scam
這個在台灣恐怕行不通（台灣現在應該沒有自己用電子支付自助加油吧？）。在美國的話，在加油站用信用卡自己加油很普遍，那麼自行加油的步驟是先刷卡（credit card, debit card 等）(*1)，然後才是加油。加完油後把油槍放回機器，機器會印收據結帳，也就是完成卡片扣款程序。

所以這個 scam 就是 scammer 會過來好意幫忙加油或是把油槍放回去，他拿到油槍後當然是假裝把油槍放回機器，換句話說交易尚未完成，繼續加油的話仍會繼續扣款。等受害顧客離開後，這個 scammer 就會等下一個顧客過來，然後推銷說比如收現金$20美金幫他加滿油，機器扣的款仍是之前受害者的卡片，就這樣子一直重複下去直到機器無法再加油為止。

(*1) 也可以先給現金，這時機器會設定好固定的量，加油時達到這金額數時會自動停止給油

Stinky tofu

San Gabriel restaurant fined for signature "stinky tofu" dish
by CBS LA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt-u6mGCDc0

加州一家台菜餐廳被市政府罰款，因為鄰居受不了他們的臭豆腐臭味向市政府單位告發他們。有趣的是記者採訪一間他們隔壁的商家，受訪者說他沒聞過什麼臭味，他還說在這之前他也不知道他們有賣 stinky tofu。

Grudge

https://ifunny.co/picture/today-the-librarian-informed-me-i-had-a-20-year-4ceXtFFm8
“… holds a grudge like your local public library.”

Back in college, I was once denied registration for a new semester. The reason? One school library book that I didn’t return.

It was near the end of the summer vacation. The school was out and I moved back home for the vacation. Back then, we had to register in person, and the school campus was more than 35 kilometers away, so I took a train, then a bus, and then hiked my way up a hill to the school—all in all the trip took me about four hours.

When the girl manning the desk told me I couldn’t register because of a library book due, I was puzzled, because I didn’t remember I borrowed a book and not returning it. She handed me a printout with the title of the book on it. I didn’t recognize the title.

In any case, I had to locate the said book. I had a rented room near the school with most of my school books and stuff in it, so I went there first. I searched frantically and couldn’t find the book. To continue the search I headed back home. After the reverse four-hour trip returning home, I still couldn’t find the book. I was distraught, and still I had to find the damn book, so I took a proverbial big breath and started the trip yet again back to my rental place, hoping I’d overlooked something.

To make the story short, four hours later I found the book. It was in a pile of books that I bounded with a rope when I moved to this rental place at the beginning of the summer vacation. With the book in my hands, now I remembered I did borrow this English novel from the library—Moment in Peking by Lin Yutang(*1).

When I first got the novel, I tried to read it, but after a few pages in it proved to be difficult, so I put it down and soon forgot all about it. I knew the book’s famous Chinese title but I failed to memorize its English title, and that’s why it didn’t ring a bell when I first saw the title on the printout. The next day I returned the novel, paid a small fine, and completed my registration.

(*1) Lin wrote the book in English, which was later translated to Chinese and titled 京華煙雲.
The novel is available on Internet Archive(archive.org). You can search the site, or find the link on this book’s Wikipedia page.

book it

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/book-it
IDIOM
Slang.

to move quickly; hurry.
We had to book it to the other terminal to make our flight, which we barely did.
to flee at top speed, as to avoid being discovered or caught by someone.
The cops are coming—book it!

book

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/book
VERB (used without object)
3. Slang.
b. to leave; depart

I'm bored with this party, let's book.

https://youtu.be/awSW2nH52RM

一則電視新聞報導。一個偷車賊在逃跑中撞上另一輛車，然後......
... Murphy, for some reason, crashed into another car and tried to book it.

我第一次在一本小說上讀到 book 這用法時印象很深，因為沒想到 book 居然還有這意思。原句子大概是"... he booked to the kitchen"。昨晚在看新聞時突然聽到這"... book it"就又特別留意了一下。

物價又漲

飛彈發射後的事

真是XXX，一個禮拜不到，附近的加油站（至少）連三漲！

X的，又又又漲！

飛彈發射前的事

這是前些天星期四的事。從信箱拿進來的郵件裡頭有 Burger King 的 coupon。我瞄了一下，發現價目好像不大對勁，因為不久之前才用了他們的 coupon 去附近的一家 Burger King 吃東西。我把舊的那張拿來比較一下。舊的剛過期幾天。這個新的......

舊的。2/22/2026 過期

新的。4/4/2026 過期

同樣的 coupon 項目：（沒有 coupon 折扣過的原價目會更高）

- Whopper Medium Meal For 2:
舊：$14.99
新：$15.49

- 8 Pc. Chicken Nuggets & 1 Large French Fries:
舊：$3.99
新：$4.49

A curious case of "He said ... means/meant ... and ... means/meant"

原始: 12/6/82 當年的連載報紙沒找到

The Far Side Gallery

by Gary Larson, 1984(*1)

右邊漫畫框：... He said two jerks means 'more slack' and three means 'come up' ... (1)

The Massachusetts Daily Collegian

September 6, 1989, page 26(*2)

... He said two jerks meant 'more slack' and three meant 'come up' ... (2)

The Complete Far Side

Volume One, 1980-1984, by Gary Larson, 2003, page 260

... He said two jerks means 'more slack' and three meant 'come up' ... (3)

這個上色的版本也是網路上流傳最廣的版本。我的猜測是要嘛是 OCR 掃描辨認失誤，要嘛就是單純的人為錯誤。

(*1)

(*2)

奶油與奶油

Butter? Cream? ...?

這是多年前的一件趣事。我哥有時會來我這開伙。這次他說要煮洋蔥湯，因為他在華人報紙上看到這食譜。他說他在餐廳吃過洋蔥湯，覺得很好吃，於是想自己做看看。反正煮的人是他，我就讓他在廚房裡忙。

當時我正在看電視。我記得他說要「炒」洋蔥，只是我看了好一陣子電視後突然發覺怎麼他還在那裡「ㄌㄚv」(還在那拿著鍋鏟攪啊拌啊)，於是我好奇過去看.....(如第二個照片)。

這時我突然想到他之前不是說要「炒」洋蔥嗎？怎麼是一鍋的湯？

Butter

Dr.eye: n. 1. 奶油；黃油《英漢大辭典》
文馨: n. 1. 奶油 Shall I use butter for frying the fish?
Merriam-Webster Online: 1. a solid emulsion of fat globules, air, and water made by churning milk or cream and used as food

Cream

Dy.eye: n. 1. 奶油；乳脂[U] Butter is made from cream. 《英漢大辭典》
文馨: n. 1. 乳脂,乳皮(牛奶上層的油脂,可製奶油)
Merriam-Webster Online: 1. the yellowish part of milk containing from 18 to about 40 percent butterfat

看樣子文馨似乎好了些，兩個英文字的翻譯沒有用到相同的中文，但是如果按照文馨的翻譯的話，那麼喝咖啡時加的「奶油球」就變成「乳脂球」或是「乳皮球」。

以下的 butter 和 cream 說明是專指用於烹飪和飲食方面的字義。

Butter 在室溫下是固態狀，通常是（淡）黃色（有染色），也有白色的（沒染色）。基本上是當成油脂來用（比如用於油炸）。

Cream 是液態狀，在美國的話依照油脂含量來說有分很多種，比如 heavy cream, light cream, half & half 等等，油脂含量越高越濃稠。因為水分含量高，所以不能用於油炸。我哥就是犯了這錯誤，他以為他買的通常用於加在咖啡裡頭的「奶油」 half & half cream 是油炸煎炒用的「奶油」，更扯的是他買到的是「fat free」，油脂含量幾乎是零（我剛查了這商品成份標示，有微量的油脂，可以按照規定標示為零油脂）。他是有說因為報紙上的洋蔥湯照片看起來是白色的，所以他以為是 ......

中文鍵盤

有次有個網友問我中文打字用的有注音符號的鍵盤在美國要在哪買。我回說我不知道，因為我用的是一般英文字母鍵盤。

我用的是倚天輸入法，它用的是英文鍵盤（類似自然發音那樣用英文字母對應相近發音的注音符號），所以不用另外看符號，再說中文鍵盤上的注音符號是不同的排列方式，所以我也用不上。我不會倉頡，所以倉頡部首符號對我來說更是沒用。

平板和手機打字時我倒是得用那種（大易）注音符號排列，一來我用的 Google Keyboard 的中文輸入沒有倚天的鍵盤排列，另外就是我打中文（和英文）時已經是靠 muscle memory —— 平板和手機的螢幕鍵盤寬度太窄，我沒有辦法兩手平放在螢幕上打字，結果就是我得用一隻手找注音符號打字。反正都是要找符號，用一般的注音符號排列就可以了。我很少用平板或是手機打中文，所以這倒是沒差。

暴風雪與暴風雪

snowstorm vs blizzard

我們這邊約上個月有一場 snowstorm，下了超過一整天，累積雪量超過一英呎。今天呢則是來了場 blizzard。現在是早上，從窗外望出去一片白，這場 blizzard 從昨晚開始，估計今天會持續到下午（剛查了氣象預報，下午4點從 Blizzard 轉為 Snow/Wind，然後 Snow Showers/Wind），雪量跟上次差不多。

上次那場 snowstorm，我在報給台灣親友知道時，我本來想寫以前背過的「暴風雪」，但是那場 snowstorm 主要是大雪，風速不大，要說是「暴風」總是怪怪的。現在則是來了場 blizzard，因為上次的 blizzard 是在 2022 年，很多年沒聽到這字眼，這次再次聽到，我記得以前背過的好像也是「暴風雪」。好奇之下我查了一下：

dreye.com

snowstorm

暴風雪
以上來源於：《英漢大辭典》
a heavy fall of snow accompanied by a high wind.
以上來源於：《簡明牛津英語詞典》

blizzard

大風雪，暴風雪
以上來源於：《英漢大辭典》
a severe snowstorm with high winds.
以上來源於：《簡明牛津英語詞典》

文馨英漢辭典

snowstorm

暴風雨,大風雪

blizzard

大風雪,暴風雪

嗯，這跟那個「中暑與中暑」有拼。還是直接看英英字典吧：

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language

https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=blizzard

snowstorm

A storm marked by heavy snowfall.

blizzard

1a. A violent snowstorm with winds blowing at a minimum speed of 35 miles (56 kilometers) per hour and visibility of less than one-quarter mile (400 meters) for three hours.

在電視台看到的：

Roadside memorial

有人在那裡車禍去世，他的家屬在路邊設立了一個紀念碑。路邊紀念碑不算少見，但是照片中的那個特別的地方是它在上世紀末就出現了，這麼多年過去了，亡者的家屬仍是持續維護，開車路過時常看到新放的花。如果一些擺設被風雨吹倒，過沒多久那些擺設又重新放正。

"in/on the morning of October 20"?

On the morning of October 20

On the morning of the wedding

這用法的表達重點是在那個特定日期（on … October 20），當天的那個 “the morning” 倒是其次。我們有時記得的是一個特定事件「那天」，這時是用那個事件代表那天，這表達習慣中文和英文一樣。

1. https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/morning
找 GRAMMAR: Patterns with morning
...
on the morning of something
• Something happens on the morning of a particular date or event:
- On the morning of March 15,2008, he was involved in a car accident.
- Make sure you arrive in plenty of time on the morning of the exam.

2. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/morning
例句: She arrived on the morning of March 18.

3. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/at-on-and-in-time

找 In or on? "... The ship left the harbour on the morning of the ninth of November."

4. https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/morning_1

on the morning of something We got the news on the morning of the wedding.

但是 …

和 late 或是 early 搭配時的慣用表達則是用 in。比如 late in the morning of June 19, 1967。

這用法表達重點除了日期之外也特別將注意力轉移到特定的區段（以上例為例，不是 early in the morning 喔，是 late in the morning）。

1. https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/in-the-morning
Examples from the Corpus:
- Late in the morning of June 19,1967, he received a call from Atty.

2. English in Mind Level 2B Combo, by Herbert Puchta, Jeff Stranks, Cambridge University Press, page 12
- ... it happened very early in the morning of April the eighteenth, 1906.

後記

說老實話，我第一次在網路上碰到有人問這問題時我也以為是 in。我當時不知道用 on 的這用法，因為之前沒碰過——不管是日常，在讀研究所時或是後來上班，一般要嘛講個大概日期，要嘛如同商業書信那樣明確的寫好時間和日期，沒必要在那邊另外加個模糊性質的 the morning。不過在那之後我在新聞媒體上碰到時我倒是有特別注意這用法。

編按：以下為舊資料

ng念法/ŋ/ or /ŋɡ/?

比如 sing, singer。很多年前有人在網路上問這問題。他說在看美劇時聽到有演員在發 ng 的音時尾端有個 /ɡ/ (hard ɡ) 音，所以 sing 變成 /siŋɡ/ ，然後 singer 變成 /siŋɡɚ/。說老實話，那時我是第一次聽到有這種事，不過之後我刻意留意這現象，也還真的多次在電視上聽到這種念法（特別是在戴耳機聽的時候）。好奇之下我查了一下，基本上是這樣：

ng 念成 /ŋɡ/ 不是標準念法

根據Wikipedia 這篇的說明， ng 在遠古以前還真的是念成 /ŋɡ/ ，後來，也就是現代，這兩個音合併成只發 /ŋ/ 一個音（NG-coalescence）。這也是為什麼在 YouTube 上眾多英文母語人士的英文發音教學影片裡頭的 NG 清一色都是教 /ŋ/ 這個標準發音，沒有另外提 /ŋɡ/ 這種地方/區域性的念法（詳細的讀上頭的 Wikipedia 文章）。

英文母語人士如何看待這現象？

幾個例子：

https://www.reddit.com/r/asklinguistics/comments/1623h26/whats_up_with_putting_g_at_the_end_of_syllables/
對於這現象，reddit 這串文提到兩個可能形成原因。一個是 ng 刻意不念成 n'（比如 fishing 變成 fishin'）造成的過度矯正。另一個是（學童期間）英文是靠閱讀學習而不是靠聽英文。我是覺得這比較有可能，這似乎也解釋了在看美劇時我通常是在年輕演員那聽到這種念法。
Facebook

總之就是知道有這現象就好，不要刻意學。

is wearing不是「正在穿/戴」

… is wearing … 不是「正在穿（上）/戴（上）/...」

直接看影片比較清楚：

"What are you wearing? "
https://yarn.co/yarn-clip/068b6da1-d1c2-4baf-9654-592b1fc33aab
影片裡頭的女方不是在說「(誤)你正在穿什麼？」，男方也不是正在穿衣物。

如果上頭的 yarn.co （或是 getyarn.io）無法看影片，那麼看這個英文教學影片也行：

"What are you wearing? "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O67zKqPKiYc
從 [0:20] 開始（或是 [3:08] 處是附上字幕的相同影片）。訪問的人問 "What are you wearing?"，接受訪問的少年郎並不是正在把衣物穿上，他回答的是他穿在身上的是什麼衣物："I'm wearing, uh, black shoes, blue jeans, black jacket, and red top."
影片接下去則是更多的 "What are you wearing?" 的對話例子。

字典怎麼說？

文馨當代英漢辭典（第五版）

(vt.) wear: ①穿著(衣、鞋);戴著(帽);戴著(戒子、眼鏡);佩著(槍、劍)
(★指穿上,戴上時,用put on)
....
- He was wearing a saber. 他配著一把軍刀。

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

wear¹ ... verb
1 ON YOUR BODY: ... to have something such as clothes, shoes, or jewellery on your body:
- Susanna was wearing a black silk dress.

...

Register
In everyday English, people often say that someone has something on rather than is wearing something:
· She had on a black silk dress.

注意讀 Register 部份的說明。

之前的舊資料

~~https://www.englishforums.com/English/WearProgressiveOrSimple/brwwcn/post.htm~~
CalifJim:
He is wearing a new coat. (now, as we speak)
He wears his new coat wherever he goes. (always, as a habit)
He was wearing a new coat at the party last night. (then, during the time we are speaking about)
He [wore / used to wear / would wear] his new coat wherever he went. (always, as a habit)
He wore his new coat to the party last night. (then, when he traveled to the party, on that occasion)

~~https://www.englishforums.com/English/WoreOrWasWearing/brjbhz/post.htm~~
(1) He wore glasses (2) She was wearing a new coat. ...
.... 'wore' and 'was wearing' ...

CalifJim:
In many, many cases, the two are equivalent. Choose the one you like better.

If you are talking about something that always or usually happens, something that occurs regularly, then wore is probably better.

He (always) wore glasses.
She (always) wore the same coat every day.

~~https://www.englishforums.com/English/PastContinuousTense/bhvbck/post.htm~~