英語中與“狗”相關的表達似乎有點泛濫成災,信手拈來的如:a lucky dog(幸運兒);top dog(當權派);dog in the manger(占著茅坑不拉屎)。今天談的to put on the dog表示“耍派頭;賣弄”,它的淵源可追溯到19世紀貴夫人豢養(yǎng)的哈吧狗。
美國內戰(zhàn)后,即19世紀中葉到20世紀初,一大批暴發(fā)戶相繼涌現(xiàn),他們?yōu)榱怂i熗ê芏噱X去買一些品種罕見的哈巴狗。當時耶魯大學的學生就創(chuàng)造了to put on the dog來嘲笑那些整日炫耀愛犬的闊太太。舉個例子:
John is sure putting on the dog since his rich aunt died and left him 10 million dollars. He's bought the biggest house in town and a Mercedes 600, and talks about buying some riding horses.(約翰的阿姨去世后給他留了一千萬美元遺產(chǎn),這下他可有資本耍闊了。他買了城里最大的一棟房子和一輛梅賽德斯600,他還說要買幾匹馬供他騎玩呢。)
另外,如果您看到to go to the dogs,可千萬別受“to put on the dog”(耍闊)的影響。Go to the dogs意思是:“潦倒;破產(chǎn)”。比如說,
I always thought my friend Pete had a good future. But then he got hooked on heroin and lost his job and his wife--I never saw a man go to the dogs so fast!(我總以為我的朋友皮特是很有前途的,但是后來他吸上了毒品,失去了工作,妻子也走了。我從來沒有看到過任何人落魄得這么快!)