nuts = crazy 疯狂的

 

nut本来是果实/螺母的意思，也有head的意思。复数形式nuts则表示crazy，关于其涵义的由来众说纷纭。最常用的句子就是

something drives me nuts! 某件事让我很抓狂。

今早，同事Dave家屋顶上有工人施工，冲击钻的噪音让他很抓狂，于是说，

they are jackhammering on the roof of my building and it’s driving me nuts.

shed some light on 解释一下

 

shed some light on sth. 字面上是给某事情洒一些光，引申涵义是解释一下，提供更多的细节以帮助别人理解。

今日，同事Dave发现LDAP查询结果里，有的User有email信息，而也有一些Users没有提供email。于是他问ID组的人说，

Can anyone shed some light on why this is inconsistent?

give it a spin 快速体验一下

 

Spin 本来是快速旋转的意思，也可以引申为快速游览（迅速转一圈就回来了）的意思。日常中，也可以表示对任何事物的快速体验。

今早，同事David发现了一个新软件，并且说

I think I will give it a spin this morning.

rabbit hole 无底洞

 

Rabbit hole表示一个无底洞，据说源自《爱丽丝梦游仙境》。如今多用在互联网上，表示一个人耗费大量时间在网上看来看去。比如，你本来想在网上查查西兰花怎么做好吃，结果看到了西兰花的营养成分表，进而再看看哪里生产西兰花，。。。就这样一直被一个个链接指引着继续浏览。

一般用 go down a rabbit hole 或者 fall down a rabbit hole.

例句，

While trying to find the picture again on Google, I fell down the Cosmo rabbit hole, scrolling through a gallery of swimwear, then through "How to Be Sexier-Instantly" and then through all 23 slides of "Sexy Ideas for Long Hair."

同事Jesse昨晚花了很长时间研究一个软件及其使用的协议，今早他说，

So, I went down a rabbit hole last night.

pull ... out of fire 拯救

 

pull someone/something out of fire，字面上就是从火中把某人/某物救出来，引申为帮助其脱离危险。

例句，

My brother is the best lawyer in town, and he's pulled me out of the fire on more than one occasion!

昨晚，门户网站发生故障，导致无法正常访问。在On Call的David最终解决问题。第二天，Jesse说，

Thanks @Dave for fixing everything last night! Good job! You really pulled our bacon out of the fire.

To tide someone over 帮助某人脱离困境

 

Tide作为名词是潮汐的意思。早期的船手经常需要依靠潮汐来帮助其越过障碍，脱离搁浅。于是，tide someone over就是帮助某人脱离困境的意思。比如临时借钱给某人，甚至给某人一点吃的使其可以撑到下一顿饭。

例句，

At any point in the day, you can probably find me nibbling snacks at my desk to tide me over until my next meal.

今天，程序员Brandon遇到了一个棘手的问题，使得其工作停滞。运维组的David帮其解决，然后给我们说

hopefully that will tide Brandon over for a bit.

blow smoke 故弄玄虚

 

blow smoke 这个习语有很多不同的意思。其中的一个就是故弄玄虚。

近来，我们组收到很多其他组提交的防火墙规则申请，然而当这些规则不再需要时，往往没人会提交相应的撤销申请，从而导致很多没用的规则仍在生效。同事说

I am not just BLOWING SMOKE here, we need an audit trail of a reason for the access request.

Throw a (monkey) wrench in 给造成麻烦

 

Monkey Wrench 对应于中文里的活口扳手。当调整扳手的时候，就像猴子的嘴巴，这就是名字的由来。

Throw a (monkey) wrench in，指的是把扳手扔到一个运转的机器里，从而造成故障。引申出来的意思就是给某人某事造成麻烦。

我们同事和另外一个组Banner关系不太好，但是最近一直没啥冲突。于是开玩笑的说

we haven’t been a roadblock for Banner lately.

 need to throw a  wrench in.

Take the high road 高姿态

 

Take the high road. 上高速？错了！错了！

高速公路是 highway 不是high road.

其实它的意思是说某人高姿态地处理事情。比如有人在某件事上对你不好，算计你，但你却不太计较，而仍然积极的处理问题。这个时候你就可以说 I am taking the high road.

有一天，开发组和运维组发生了冲突，有些程序员开始抱怨我的一个同事，他却没有生气，而是仍然试着解决问题。他给我们说

no, I’m taking the high road here.

You nailed it! 你做到了！

 nail本身是钉钉子的意思。例如，桌子坏了，用钉子重新固定好。从这个“修理好”的角度，”nailed it"表示某件事情做成功了。如果你想表扬某个人做成功了一件事，可以说“you nailed it!"

今日，开发组提交了一个PHP配置问题，经过仔细分析我找到了问题所在，并提出了解决方案。同事对我说

impressive. you nailed it!

go to horizontal 躺平

 

Horizontal 和 Vertical 分别是水平和垂直的意思。正好对应人躺着和站着这两种姿态。于是，go to horizontal 常常用来形容躺着（休息） 。

今日，我们的manager后背有顽疾，今日可能是又发作了，发邮件给大家说

Still dealing with back issues. Going back to horizontal for a bit.

silver lining 塞翁失马焉知非福

 

 

Sliver lining 指的是乌云边缘透出的光线。比喻不好的事情也有好的一面。

Every cloud has a silver lining! 这句话常用来开导别人要看到希望。

今天，我们的服务器集群出现了问题，不得不重启机器，引起服务中断。这是一个不好的情况，但也提供了一个机会来同时升级各个节点的OS，事后同事说

silver lining: the infra nodes have finally been patched and restarted, and I didn’t need to work on a Saturday to do it.

Pull a muscle 肌肉拉伤

 Today my manager said in his email that "I pulled a muscle in my side last Sunday and it's been getting worse all week. Haven't slept much the last few nights as a result."

pull a muscle 就是拉伤肌肉。

更多例句：

• A muscle strain, or pulled muscle, occurs when your muscle is overstretched or torn.

Throw someone under the bus

 字面上，”under the bus"表示不好的位置。实际含义是没有依据的无端责怪、批评。

今天，公司开会，有一个其他组的人抱怨我们组工作不积极，同事这么说，

“Our team was slightly thrown under the bus".

• Every time the president gets in trouble, he'll throw another cabinet member under the bus.
• I didn't have time to do the business report, so I threw you under the bus and told the boss it was your job instead.

Take a toll on something/somebody

按照字面的意思，take a toll on 是让某人某事付出代价。实际的含义是，对某人某事造成坏的影响。

今天上午开了很多会，我的一个同事说到，"This morning has taken a toll on me"，来表达身体有点透支了。

下面是更多的例句和转载的视频。

After witnessing a road accident, it took a toll on Samantha’s mood and she couldn’t focus on her work the entire day.

Over consumption of alcohol over the years, takes a toll on the liver.

Extensive exercising over the years has taken a toll on Kevin’s knees. He has to wear a knee cap now.

Have the ear of someone 拥有某个人的耳朵？

 

To have the ear of someone or to have someone's ear means to have attention from someone who listens to you and often follows your advice.

e.g

• She has the ear of our (ex)manager and our director,  and excels in making us look bad.
• He has the President's ear, especially over environmental policy.

Put something on the back burner

 一个厨师经常同时检查烹炸多份菜肴，为更好的专注于最需要关注的那个，他经常习惯把不需要太多关注的锅盆放到后面的（back）炉头（burner）上。

从而，put something on the back burner就表示降低某事物的优先级，把它放到次要位置。

E.g

• Her career has always been on the back burner because her children's well-being is more important to her.
• 
  
• Those that demand careful consideration and attention are left on the back burner.

Roger 信息收到!

From: https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-189587,00.html

Where does the expression "Roger that" come from ? It is also used in maritime communications to acknowledge communications.

Alan Doory, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• "Roger" was "phonetic" for "R" (received and understood". In radio communication, a "spelling alphabet" (often mistakenly called a "phonetic alphabet) is used to avoid confusion between similarly sounding letters. In the previously used US spelling alphabet, R was Roger, which in radio voice procedure means "Received". While in the current spelling alphabet (NATO), R is now Romeo, Roger has remained the response meaning "received" in radio voice procedure. In the US military, it is common to reply to another's assertion with "Roger that", meaning: "I agree".
  Major David Null, Auxiliary USAF, Claremont, CA USA

• In the RAF, the expression "Roger Willco" ("received, will cooperate") was used to acknowledge a request or order; It might still be, for all I know. I once had an idea for a television comedy series that followed the exploits of a roguish NCO called Sergeant Willco but was upstaged by Phil Silvers.
  Pete Wigens, Stroud, Glos UK

• I was told during my Navy training that ROGER stands for Received Order Given, Expect Results.
  Andy McBride, Littlehampton UK

• My name Rafael Gonzales...I sevred in Vietnam January 1970 to January 1971...I became a radioman on are about March of 1970... Being hispanic my vocabulary was very limited...I had trouble pronouncing many words... One day while on an operation, we were crossing a booby trap infested area...each taking their turn to cross an open area.., I was with Alpha Company 1st platooon (don't quite remember)...as I was making my crossing...a previous call came in...asking me if I receive the last message... I stead of saying "Affirmative" meaning "Yes"...to save my life I could not pronounce "Affirmative"...and so I came up with "Roger That"...like I said I could not pronounce the affirmative... There is more to this...if interested in more details...please feel free to contact me...this happen on or about April 1970...thank you. Sincerely, Rafael Gonzales Charlie Two Charlie Squad Leader...Nam 70-71
  Rafael Gonzales, Houston, Texas U.S.A.

• Roger or Roger That does NOT mean "agreement". It just means the entire message was received. Wilco, as in WILL COMPLY was the old term for will comply. Wikipedia "roger that" or try websites that deals with radio or military terminology.
  Barbara, Tampa USA

• in response to Rafael Gonzales: "I was with Alpha Company 1st platooon (don't quite remember)" really dude? you don't remember your company and platoon ? you couldn't say affirmative but you can say Roger? the "G" is the letter hispano-american People have more trouble with... i call bravo sierra on your roger and your service, señor
  Douglas, Boston USA

• ROGER THAT, Douglas, Boston USA. "Roger that" and "Roger wilco" were first used in WW II.
  Marine4ever, USA

• I too will call bravo sierra on the alleged Hispanic Vietnam vet. No way you forget a detail like that. He is a fake. My Dad was using roger that in the navy during WWII in the Pacific. He even remembered every port of call. Kit
  Dr. Kit Barrington, South Burlington, VT USA

• When I was in the army cadets as a youth, many years ago...I was told that Roger actually came from Stonehaven
  Mr Tait, Aberdeen, UK

• I agree with douglas, boston and marine4ever. One does not forget things like that. I was an air force officer during the 1960s stationed on okinawa, in and out of 'nam' tdy. anyway, I digress. I had two serial numbers, one as an enlisted type prior to being commissioned and a 2nd as an officer. after nearly 50 years I still remember both. one does not tend to forget these things or one's unit of assignment. they're bludgeoned into your brain! ex-capt brandriff, 374 fMS (naha air base) now of hamden ct
  Welles Brandriff, Hamden, ct USA

• My name is Roger Thatney and I am 91 years old. I was serving as a testing pilot at the beginning of WW2 for the US Navy and since our plane equipped radio systems were not very advanced the signal was often getting lost and only parts of the conversations were heard, so whenever my name was called other pilots only heard "Roger..", or "..That..", so we were often joking about the signal quality and eventually instead of saying "I understand" they started jokingly saying "Roger That" and everyone knew exactly what they meant. Later the phrase caught up with the radio signal engineers who were working at making our planes getting better reception as well as creating plane radar systems and the phrase was later used to name aircraft radio equipment developing projects - on May 3rd, 1941 project "Roger" was created at the Naval Aircraft Factory to install and test their, then "new", "airborne radar equipment". The equipment proved to be very useful in the next few months so the phrase "Roger That" spread across all of the Navy and later other US Army units... The rest was history...
  Roger Thatney, Chicago, IL USA

• Hmmm, very interesting stories here. Now I understand why all pilot and captain names were "ROGER" in old USA movies in the Turkish translation. I think many years ago interpretation was not successful in Turkey.
  Umit Golgeci, Finike, Antalya, Turkey

• All the stories are very interesting. We use "Roger That" when corresponding on our business radios. All of them apply to us. The response from Roger surely has a lot more credibility. Also, Thank You Roger and all you veterans for making it possible for me to live a cherished life in the USA.
  David Dodge, Alton, NH USA

• Well fellow Vets...I am sorry to know that you find me to be a fake...and I can understand as to why...but all I wanted to do was to let someone know how this Roger That expression got started...and for not knowing what unit I was in, I was in Country for a very short time when I became a Radioman and I really do not remember if it was the First Platoon or the Second Platoon for Alpha Company...and you Sir(s), would have been very proud of the many things I did for my Country...around May of 1970 or there a-bouts I was transferred to Charlie Company Second Platoon...days later I became a Squad Leader (Third Squad)...I was wounded twice and among other things that I do not feel comfortable to write about... I hope and wish you Men the best...I do not want to cause you to anger...if you do not believe me, then let's wait for the moment when we stand before our Maker and have him reveal the truth to all things...May God Speed... Sincerely, Rafael Gonzales
  Rafael Gonzales, Houston U.S.A.

• Don't mind them, they apparently still have a lot to prove. I have been with over a dozen units detached and deployed all over, and just had to pull up records to fill out my last clearance investigation.
  Sgt. Kill Foot, Monticello, US

• Back in the day, "Roger That" either meant "Yep",.. or more typically "Hell Yeah"!
  Blinko, Indianapolis USA

• BAHAHAH I find it hilarious that there are two different stories of people claiming to have been a part of the origin of the phrase JUST on this blog. That's cute.

学个词 coordinate

[转自]https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/84891107 

coordinate 字面上是「协调」的意思。

大四找工作时，我曾经当过国企高管的舅爷嘱咐我说，你一定要强调你有很强的「协调能力」。

说实话，那时我连中文「协调」是什么意思都不懂，更别提英文coordinate的意思。

我只知道身体协调，协调发展这些概念，和工作也八竿子打不着。

现在我逐渐明白了中文「协调能力」是什么意思。舅爷在国企工作，工作最大的挑战是协调各方矛盾和利益，理所当然认为「协调能力」最重要。

coordinate虽然有中文「协调」的意思，但日常使用中却并没有协调矛盾和利益那么复杂。

参加工作后我经常看到coordinate这个词，逐渐理解了其中的意思。

我印象最深刻的一次是，部门组织了团建活动，结束后老板发了一封邮件，其中有说到Thank you Linda for coordinating all this.

这个活动是他的助理Linda全程安排的。看到老板用coordinate这个词我还觉得还挺新颖的，换做我只会说arrange或者organize（感谢Linda组织这次活动）。

其实Linda所做的工作就是打电话订酒店、买票、安排交通，通过邮件和微信通知我们行程，并没有需要协调各方利益，她所起到的作用就是「联络沟通」各个群体，最后让团队活动得以顺利进行。

由此可以看出coordinate就是联络沟通以使事情顺利进行。

如果我们只记住「协调」的意思，可能永远不会用coordinate这个词，我们更应该记住是「联络」的意思。

project coordinator/ sales coordinator其实就是项目跟单、销售跟单，主要工作是打打电话、发发邮件追踪各方进度，是很初级的职位。

例1：

可以和酒店联系一下，把入住时间改为星期五吗？

• 翻译一：Could you please contact the hotel and change the check-in date to Friday?
  
• 翻译二：Could you please coordinate with the hotel and change the check-in date to Friday?

例2：

请和实验室联系一下尽快安排测试。

• 翻译一：Please contact the lab to start the test asap.
• 翻译二：Please coordinate with the lab to start the test asap.

例3：

可以叫贵公司的美国办事处帮忙提供一下邀请函吗？

• 翻译一：Could you ask your US office to offfer an invitation letter?
• 翻译二：Could you help coordinate with your US office to offfer an invitation letter?

例4：

让Linda来处理签证的事。

• 翻译：Have Linda coordinate the visa thing.

这里的coordinate是指让Linda去和领事馆、中介、当事人联络。

大家平时可以多用coordinate来代替contact和communicate，甚至 handle（如果是处理联络沟通的事情）。

学个词 defuse

 

fuse: 保险丝，如炸弹雷管的保险丝。

defuse: 拆除（炸弹）的保险丝，引申为平息紧张局势。

• Police have defused a bomb found in a building in London.
• Officials will hold four days of talks aimed at defusing tensions over trade.

学个词 "break the tie"

 tie有运动员打成平局的意思，"break the tie"就是打破平局。

Two teams have the same score; the score ties.

It's time to break the tie.

学个词 “double down"

In its original context of the card game blackjack, double down describes a strategy wherein a player who is confident in their hand chooses to double their bid. The phrase is found in a book on card-playing by noted magician John Scarne in 1949. By at least the 1990s, the gambling sense of double down extended as a metaphor to a more general sense of “engaging in risky behavior.”

Double down started evolving in the 2000–10s away from “taking risks” toward an “impassioned commitment to a cause.” The verb phrase saw an extreme peak in Google trends in April 2010. In November of that year, AOL.com declared double down its “buzzword of the week,” noting that the term had been “a popular boardroom buzzword” before beginning to spread through politics, communications, and media. At this time, it seemed to be used synonymously with “to work twice as hard.”

Perhaps picking up on this, KFC introduced in 2010 its Double Down sandwich. The name is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the outrageousness of such a food item. Double down has also developed special associations in the tech sector. In 2012, The Verge, notably, reported in their own examination of the phrase that doubling down had “become the go-to phrase for tech CEOs when they want to allay fears that their company is flagging,” dubbing it “the most meaningless phrase in tech.”

comfusing "halves"

The third-person singular of "halve" and the plural of "half" accidentally share the same world "halves".

1. The bottle is half full. (adv)
2. She is half Chinese and half Italian. (adv)
3. The new road halves the time it takes to get home. (verb)
4. We have to go halves on the phone bill. (noun)

令人迷惑的单词"defeat" / Confusing "defeat"

先来看两个例句：

•  President Donald Trump for the first time acknowledged his defeat in the Nov. 3 election.
• 川普总统首次承认在11月3日总统选举中的失败。

• We must be ready to defeat our enemies in battle.
• 我们必须准备好在战争中击败敌人。

作为动词，defeat具有”击败”对手的意思，而作为名词却是“被击败”的意思。这颇具中文里“大败”的神奇效果。

• 我军大败敌军于主力战场。
• 敌军大败。