花樣說(shuō)no：原來(lái)No可以追溯到古英語(yǔ)

柳葉眉的柳葉刀

　　有時(shí)我們需要拒絕別人但no又很難說(shuō)出口,。事實(shí)上，英文中還有很多詞可以用來(lái)表達(dá)否定的意思,，讓你say “no”不再重復(fù),。
　　1。 No 不
　　Let’s start with the easy one,。 No dates to Old English,。
　　讓我們從簡(jiǎn)單的開(kāi)始。No可以追溯到古英語(yǔ),。

　　2,。 uh-uh 啊,；哼
　　The imitative uh-uh is first found in its written form in the 1920s,。
　　書(shū)面形式的uh-uh在1920年代首次出現(xiàn)。

　　3,。 Nix 拒絕,；不行
　　Originally Victorian slang， nix can be compared withthe earlier German nix,， which is a colloquial shortened form of nichts （‘nothing’）,。
　　最初是維多利亞時(shí)代的俚語(yǔ)，與德語(yǔ)中的nix相近,，是nichts（其含義為nothing“沒(méi)什么”）的口語(yǔ)縮寫(xiě)形式的,。

　　4。 nixie / nixy / nixey 不
　　And it wasn’t long until this slang term was given a –y/-ie suffix,， used to form pet names and familiar diminutives,。
　　沒(méi)多久，這個(gè)俚語(yǔ)添加了-y/-ie后綴,，用來(lái)作寵物姓名和熟人的昵稱(chēng),。

　　5。 nope 不
　　The earliest sense of nope was actually another name for the bullfinch,， used in the early 17th century –but fast forward to the the late 19th century and nope is being used for no,， with an apparently arbitrary extension， at around the same time that yep began being used for yes,。
　　實(shí)際上,，在17世紀(jì)早期，Nope最早的含義是紅腹灰雀（bullfinch）的別名,。但到19世紀(jì)末期時(shí),，nope被用來(lái)表達(dá)no的意思（不），相似地,，大約在同一時(shí)間,，yep開(kāi)始被用于表達(dá)yes（是）的含義,。

　　6。 nay 不,；拒絕
　　This form of no is particularly characteristic of Northern English,。 In origin it is a borrowing from early Scandinavian （cf。 Icelandic nei）,。 You could once also nick with nay –that is,， ‘a(chǎn)nswer in the negative’,。
　　Nay的使用是英國(guó)北部語(yǔ)言的特征,。早期起源于北歐冰島的nei。你可以用nay來(lái)表達(dá)否定的含義,。

　　7,。 nah
　　A non-standard spelling of no， nah is often used when representing southern English pronunciation,， particularly cockney speech
　　非標(biāo)準(zhǔn)拼寫(xiě),，常用作南方發(fā)音的代表，特別是倫敦音,。

　　8,。 no way 決不；一點(diǎn)兒也不
　　Though decried as slang by some,， no way （for ‘no’） has a long history,， dating back at least as far as the 18th century。
　　有人認(rèn)為這個(gè)表達(dá)只是俚語(yǔ)表達(dá),，但no way有很長(zhǎng)的發(fā)展歷史,，可以追溯到18世紀(jì)以前。

　　9,。 no way,， José 拒絕；決不
　　It’s not entirely clear why José is added to this expression,， other than the obvious novelty of the rhyme,。 Its history （unsurprisingly） is far shorter， with the current earliest known use dating only to 1979,。
　　no way后面添加José的原因還并不清楚,，但發(fā)音更加舒適。這個(gè)用法出現(xiàn)的時(shí)間較短,，最早的使用是在1979年,。

　　10。 negative 否定,，拒絕
　　If you’re feeling in a military frame of mind,， you can say negative instead of no （as opposed to affirmative for yes）,。 This probably started as a way of saying ‘no’over the radio with as much clarity as possible。
　　如果你內(nèi)心崇尚軍事,，你可能會(huì)說(shuō)negative而不是no（對(duì)應(yīng)的肯定詞為yes）,。這可能由于在廣播中采用negative來(lái)表達(dá)否定含義，因?yàn)閚egative比no更清晰,。

　　11,。 veto 否決；禁止
　　Veto joins that group of Latin words that are used as everyday parts of English,。 Literally translating as ‘I forbid’,， this is a fairly commanding way to show your disapproval of a scheme。
　　Veto來(lái)源于日常拉丁詞匯,。按字面翻譯為“我禁止……”,，這是一個(gè)相當(dāng)強(qiáng)硬的方式表明你反對(duì)某個(gè)計(jì)劃。

　　12,。 out of the question 不可能
　　Originally meaning ‘beside the point,， not relevant to the matter under discussion。 One of the earliest uses of this later sense comes from Eliza Haywood’s The History of Betsy Thoughtless： ‘A marriage with miss Betsy was,， therefore,， now quite out of the question with him’。
　　最初的意思是“離題,，與正在討論的問(wèn)題無(wú)關(guān)的”,。out of the question作為“不可能”最早出自伊麗莎海伍德的作品《貝琪的粗心歷史》中：“因此，他和貝特西小姐結(jié)婚是不可能的,。

　　13,。 no siree
　　You would be right in thinking that siree here is derived from sir —ultimately it is， but it developed as a variant of sirrah （much used in Shakespeare）,， which （in turn） was formed directly from sir with a （perhaps arbitrary） suffix,， as a term used when addressing men or boys with contempt。
　　Siree源于sir,，sir是sirrah的變體,，sirrah又sir和后綴（可能是arbitrary）組成，用來(lái)表示對(duì)男性的輕蔑,。

　　14,。 for foul nor fair 不可能
　　Putting opposites together to cover a spectrum is a pretty good way to indicate that something isn’t going to happen： this one can be found as far back as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales。
　　將反義詞放在一起表達(dá)一些不會(huì)發(fā)生的事是非常好的方式：這個(gè)用法最早可以追溯到喬叟的《坎特伯雷故事集》,。

　　15,。 not on your life 一點(diǎn)也不；絕對(duì)不行
　　This emphasizes your reluctance to comply with a request –that， even if the requester’s life was at stake,， you’d still be a hard pass,。
　　這個(gè)俚語(yǔ)強(qiáng)調(diào)你不愿遵守某一個(gè)請(qǐng)求——即使請(qǐng)求者有生命危險(xiǎn)，你也不愿意服從,。

柳葉眉的柳葉刀

　　16,。 not on your Nelly 絕對(duì)不
　　The British expression not on your Nelly， in its earliest incarnation in a 1941 issue of the New Statesman ,。 Not on your Nelly is just another way of saying not on your life,。
　　not on your Nelly是英式表達(dá)，這個(gè)表達(dá)最早出現(xiàn)在1941年發(fā)行的《新政治家》上,。Not on your Nelly是not on your life的另一種表達(dá),。

　　17。 not on your tintype
　　Atintypewas a photograph taken as a positive on a thin tin plate but also found its way into this phrase,， which dates to at least 1900,。
　　Tintype最初指的錫版照相法，后在大約1900年以前Tintype在短語(yǔ)中也有應(yīng)用,。

　　18。 not for all the tea in China絕不可能
　　This phrase,， despite drawing on Britain’s national obsession,， is actually originally from colloquial Australian English。
　　英國(guó)人很傾向于用這個(gè)短語(yǔ),，但這個(gè)短語(yǔ)源于澳大利亞口語(yǔ),。

　　19。 not in a million years 絕不可能
　　People haven’t been using it for quite a million years,， but it certainly dates back over a century,。
　　這個(gè)短語(yǔ)的使用可以追溯到一個(gè)世紀(jì)以前，但已經(jīng)很久沒(méi)什么人使用了,。

　　20,。 under no circumstances 決不
　　For avoidance of doubt， this one pretty much covers all bases,。 Circumstance was originally a noun of action or condition,， in the singular， but is now usually pluralized,。
　　為避免產(chǎn)生歧義,，你可以用這個(gè)詞組來(lái)表達(dá)堅(jiān)決的否定。起初詞組中的circumstance用的是單數(shù),，但現(xiàn)在都是用復(fù)數(shù)形式了,。

　　21。 not likely 不見(jiàn)得；不會(huì)
　　Although you’re probably in complete control of the likelihood or otherwise of something happening if you say not likely,， it’s an option for dismissing someone’s suggestion with a bit of sass,。
　　如果你說(shuō)not likely，你可能對(duì)事情的可能性及發(fā)生的事有一定把握,。如果有人提了無(wú)禮請(qǐng)求,，可以用這個(gè)詞拒絕。

　　22,。 not for Joe 決不
　　The phrase not for Joe,， meaning ‘not on any account’， dates from the mid-19th century and appears to use Joe as a non-specific person （although the phrase may have originally arisen from the name of the 18th-century comedian Joe Miller,， and a popular jest-book published after his death）,。
　　短語(yǔ)not for Joe意思為not on any account “決不”，可以追溯到19世紀(jì)中葉,，當(dāng)時(shí)joe并不代表具體的個(gè)人,，（盡管這個(gè)詞可能最早出現(xiàn)是由于18世紀(jì)的喜劇演員喬•米勒，一個(gè)受歡迎的笑話(huà)集在他去世后出版）,。

　　23,。 thumbs down  拒絕
　　Turning the thumb down is， of course,， a gesture intended to indicate disapproval or rejection –and the term can be used figuratively for the same thing,； i.e。 a substitute for no –but it’s got a somewhat muddled history,。 The earliest uses of thumbs down and thumbs up relate to ‘the use of the thumb by the spectators in the ancient amphitheatre’–but in these instances,， thumbs up would indicate rejection。
　　當(dāng)然將大拇指反轉(zhuǎn)向下的手勢(shì)表示反對(duì)或拒絕,，這個(gè)短語(yǔ)可以用來(lái)代替no——但短語(yǔ)的來(lái)源歷史卻比較混亂,。最早使用拇指向下指的是“古劇場(chǎng)中觀(guān)眾大拇指指向”。但是,，在這些情況下,，大拇指向上意味著拒絕。

　　24,。 pigs might fly 不可能
　　Pigs （we hate to break it to you） don’t fly,， andpigs might fly， pigs have wings,， and similar expressions are used to indicate impossibility or incredulity,。 The first known use， in this way,， of pig’s grounded behaviour is not quite synonymous with no –but has the distinction of being found in Alice’s Adventures of Wonderland： ‘‘I’ve a right to think,，’said Alice sharply…‘Just about as much right，’said the Duchess， ‘a(chǎn)s pigs have to fly,�,！���
　　豬當(dāng)然是不會(huì)飛的，類(lèi)似的pigs might fly,， pigs have wings地表達(dá)用來(lái)表示“不可能,；懷疑”。第一次為眾所周知的以豬的行為作比喻的用法是在《愛(ài)麗絲夢(mèng)游仙境》中,，愛(ài)麗絲說(shuō)：“I‘ve a right to think（我有權(quán)思考）”,。公爵夫人回答了一句“Just about as much right as pigs have to fly”（對(duì)，這個(gè)權(quán)利就像豬在天空飛翔一樣）,。

　　25,。 not a cat （in hell）’s chance  沒(méi)有機(jī)會(huì)
　　If you think the pig did badly， the cat fares even worse： as far back as Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue in 1796,， he cited ‘No more chance than a cat in hell without claws,； said of one who enters into a dispute or quarrel with one greatly above his match’。 Its application now is,， of course,， rather wider than disputers and quarrellers。
　　如果你認(rèn)為豬的表現(xiàn)力不夠,，那貓的表現(xiàn)更糟：早在在1796年,，格羅斯的俗語(yǔ)詞典中，他以“No more chance than a cat in hell without claws,；來(lái)比喻一個(gè)人進(jìn)入一個(gè)對(duì)手遠(yuǎn)比自身強(qiáng)大的爭(zhēng)議或吵架之中。當(dāng)然,，現(xiàn)在的應(yīng)用更廣泛,，不僅僅運(yùn)用在爭(zhēng)吵中。

　　26,。 fat chance  機(jī)會(huì)很小
　　Fat chance is an ironic use of the adjective fat in its sense ‘a(chǎn) large amount,， a great deal’。 Interestingly,， this sense seems only to be used ironically,， implying ‘very little， hardly anything’,。
　　Fat chance是形容詞fat的諷刺用法,。Fat chance原意為“大量的”，有趣的是,，通常都含有諷刺意味,，表示“很少；幾乎沒(méi)有”。

　　27,。 catch me,！
　　Catch me！ and catch me at it,！ are also suggestive of their opposite： that is,， that the interlocutor would never be able to catch the person at it， since it （whatever ‘it’is） wouldn’t happen,。 The sense of catch being used is ‘to come upon suddenly or unexpectedly’,， which is also still used in sentences such as ‘I catch myself speaking like my mother’。
　　Catch me和catch me at it（抓住我）有時(shí)也表達(dá)相反的含義：表示對(duì)方并不能發(fā)現(xiàn)某人在某方面的真實(shí)狀況（it可指具體的方面）,，暗指這件事不會(huì)發(fā)生,。Catch在這里的含義為“偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)、無(wú)意中發(fā)現(xiàn)”,。這種含義現(xiàn)在仍然使用,，例如“I catch myself speaking like my mother”。（我突然發(fā)現(xiàn)我和我媽媽的說(shuō)話(huà)語(yǔ)氣很像）,。

　　28,。 no fear  不
　　Fear here originally meant ‘ground or reason for alarm’， though even in its earliest uses （including a 16th-century translation of Psalms） it appeared chiefly in （there is） no fear –that is,， that there is no grounds for alarm,。 The usual sense now is as an informal but definite no。
　　這里的fear最初表示“驚慌/恐懼的原因和根據(jù)”,，在最早的使用中（16世紀(jì)的詩(shī)篇翻譯）,，no fear—“沒(méi)有原因和根據(jù)的驚恐”。現(xiàn)在no fear 是no的非正式表達(dá),。

　　29,。 go fish 拒絕
　　Go fishis an American card game， usually played by children,， in which each player in turn asks an opponent for a particular card and is told to ‘go fish’from the undealt deck if denied,。 The term has taken on broader use as a playful way of saying no。
　　Go fish是美國(guó)紙牌游戲,，通常由兒童參與,，每位玩家輪流向?qū)κ忠�特定的牌，如果�?duì)方拒絕給牌就會(huì)說(shuō)“go fish”,，后來(lái)這個(gè)說(shuō)法被廣泛使用來(lái)代表示一種玩笑式的“no”,。（滬江英語(yǔ)）