熱詞解析(3) — Cosh

Why are people looking up cosh?

Cosh had a rare moment atop our lookups on February 4th, 2019, following the word’s appearance in an interview with actor Liam Neeson.

2019年2月4日,在對演員連姆·尼森(Liam Neeson)的採訪後,Cosh這個詞罕見地出現在了我們的搜索結果榜首。

Yet here in the rigid, conveyor-belt atmosphere of the celebrity junket, the 66-year-old star of Taken is about to recount a disturbing incident from his past, a confession that he’s never made before. It will involve how he learnt about the rape of someone close to him many years ago, how he roamed the streets for a week afterwards carrying with him a cosh and brutal, racist thoughts, and how this taught him that violence and revenge do not work.
— Clémence Michallon, The Independent (London, Eng.), 4 Feb. 2019
然而,在電影推介會(Press junket)這種僵硬的傳送帶氛圍中,這位66歲的明星將要講述他過去的令人不安的事件,這是他以前從未做過的懺悔。這關係到多年前他如何瞭解到他的一位好友被強姦的事件,事後他如何帶着短棒以及滿腔殘暴又充滿種族歧視的想法在街上晃盪(希望殺死一個黑人以發泄,因其好友被黑人強姦),以及這件事如何讓他懂得暴力和報復解決不了問題。
(點此跳轉新聞)

What does cosh mean?

We define cosh as both noun (“a weighted weapon similar to a blackjack”) and verb (“to strike or assault with or as if with a cosh”). Both parts of speech are chiefly British in use, although not uncommon in other varieties of English.

cosh既可用作名詞(“類似於blackjack(包革金屬棍棒)的加重武器”),也可用作動詞(“用cosh擊打”)。這兩個用法都主要在英式英語中使用,當然在其他英語變體中也並不少見。

Where does cosh come from?

The origins of cosh are somewhat obscure. Its earliest use comes in the middle of the 19th century, and it possibly comes from the Romany kaš (or kašt), meaning “stick, piece of wood.”

cosh的起源還不太清楚。最早使用來自於19世紀中葉,它可能來自於吉普賽語kaš(或kašt),意思是“棒,木頭”。

Citations

It is a rare day in London when the newspapers do not carry stories of people not only being robber but beaten viciously with “a cosh” of one kind or another.
—Calgary Herald (Alberta, Can.), 15 Mar. 1950
在倫敦,很少有一天報紙上不報道人們搶劫,或者被這樣或那樣的“棍棒”毒打的故事。

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英文來源:https://www.merriam-webster.com

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