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[沿路美景]

和Thumb有关的一些习惯用语：

1. green thumb： A natural skill for gardening or a person with this skill. 园艺种植技术，或者园艺高手。（树木花草长的绿油油）

例句：I sure wish I had a green thumb like Mister Jones next door. Every year he grows the best tomatos and sweet corn in our whole neighborhood. And his roses are absolutely beautiful!
“我真希望我也能像我邻居琼斯先生那样能把花和菜种得那末好。他种的西红柿和老玉米在我们这个居民区里每年都是最好的。另外，他种的玫瑰化简直是漂亮极了!”

2. brown thumb ：(idiomatic) Lack of skill at growing plants; something possessed by a poor gardener. 缺乏园艺技术的人。（树木花草发黄枯萎）
例句： I generally have a brown thumb, and frequently forgot to water my flowers and plants.

3. thumbs up, thumbs-up: n.(idiomatic) A gesture signifying approval or okay; a thumb pointing up out of a fist. （表示赞成或者满意的）翘大拇指
例句：
He smiled and gave a big thumbs up. 他笑了，向我翘起大拇指表示赞赏。
We got the thumbs-up to go ahead with the project. 我们已经获得准许，可以开工了。

Tips:thumbs-donw:n.不赞成，反对。

4.all thumbs ：(idiomatic) Clumsy; awkward; not dextrous. 笨拙，笨手笨脚
词源：From the proverb "When he should get aught, each finger is a thumb." from John Heywood's Collection of 1546.

例句：
I am all thumbs when it comes to shuffling cards.我一洗牌就笨手笨脚的。
She knocked over three vases and seemed to be all thumbs.她打翻了三个花瓶，看来是个笨手笨脚的人。

[沿路美景]

在阅读中，经常遇到这个词 Pet peeves，对它的意思一直有些模棱两可，所以就做了一些research，和大家分享：

Pet peeves：A pet preeve ia an English idiom that describes something bothers you. In Enlish, 'pet' is ofen used as an ajective describe things unique to a person.

A pet peeve is a minor annoyance that can instill great frustration in an individual.一些小烦恼但是可以令某人非常恼火。

所谓的 pet peeve 就是个人生活中对此感到非常讨厌或不快的事情，或者一种人（也许这些事情或者人，对其他人来说根本无所谓）。 例如有些人不喜欢别人碰他的电脑， 要是你碰他的电脑他就会不高兴, 这就是所谓的 pet peeve (而非 bad habit.) 。通常 pet peeve 都是比较无伤大雅的小毛病, 几乎每个人都有属於他自己的 pet peeve。 所以有句话说， "Everybody has his pet peeve." 当然 pet peeve 也常常成为人们谈话之间彼此开玩笑的话题。

例子：My pet peeve is the sound of fingernails scratching a chalkborad. The sound really irks me and makes me want to jump out of my skin.I don't like it. My girlfriend's pet peeve, on the other hand, is when someone talks when chewing.我的pet peeve 是听不得指甲划黑板的声音，我女朋友的pet peeve 是见不得人边嚼口香糖边讲话。


有一个网站对每个人的Pet peeve做了调查，题为Your top ranked pet peeves，下面是被较多人提及的Pet peeves：

#1.People who let their kids scream and run around in stores and restaurants（那些任由孩子在商店或饭店奔跑吵闹的家长）

#2.People Who Talk At The Movies（边看电影边讲话的）

#3.Cell Phone Users（电话使用者之一：大声将电话不顾及旁人）
My biggest pet peeve is when people talk really loud on their cell phones right next to me...talk soft please! Geez! Drives me nuts!

#4.People who talk on their phones while driving（开车的时候讲电话）
#5.Car turn signals（汽车指示灯的使用之一：车子转弯不打方向灯的驾驶者）

First I hate it when people don't use their signals when they're changing lanes or turning in front of you, or when they turn it on as they're changing lanes, as an afterthought. But then secondly I hate it when people don't turn their blinkers off and you slow down to let them in... Grrr! Argh!

#6.Loud music in the restaurant（餐厅里面音乐放得太大声）

#7.People smoking when driving with kids in the car.（在载有孩子的车里面抽烟）

#8.People who talk too much（喋喋不休的人）

#9.People who cut in line（插队的人）

#10.People who read their Blackberry while talking to you（边和你讲话边看他的黑莓手机的人）

#11.People who leave shopping carts in parking spaces（把购物车留在停车位上的人）

#12.Elevator Button Pushers（电梯把所有楼层都摁亮的人，通常是小孩）

Usually done by kids, you get into the lift/elevator and find the buttons pressed for every single floor. 15 floors later you are about ready to scream with pent up anger.


上述这些事情，如果你只是觉得讨厌，但是可以睁只闭只眼，换句话说，并不惹恼你，那就不是你的pet peeves。

我现在知道的我妈妈的pet peeve，是听不得用铁铲子刮金属锅子的声音，而我自己的pet peeve是语音电话系统，因为没完没了地输号码拨键要让我疯了。

你的Pet peeve呢？

有高手给pet peeve一个中文名字吗？

[小柠檬]

thank you!

[沿路美景]

you are welcome

[zhaoce]

squinky这个词我一直很难搞懂老外的意思
老外说，这个词是一个非常恶心的人碰了你之后的那种感觉
我晕死，这叫恶心吗？但好像又不是，说是挑剔
比如说friends里面phoebe对rachel说，come on, don't get all squinky
意思说，不要如此挑剔
貌似可以解释得通，但不知道是否有偏差
有时候用drug用到high的话别人也形容这是squinky……

[沿路美景]

作者: zhaoce

squinky这个词我一直很难搞懂老外的意思
老外说，这个词是一个非常恶心的人碰了你之后的那种感觉
我晕死，这叫恶心吗？但好像又不是，说是挑剔
比如说friends里面phoebe对rachel说，come on, don't get all squinky
意思说，不要如此挑剔
貌似可以解释得通，但不知道是否有偏差
有时候用drug用到high的话别人也形容这是squinky……

下面是我查到的结果：

squinky是squink的形容词，先看看squink的意思：

squink：an unidentified animal, from the english squirrel and skunk ，说的是一种不明的动物，来源于英文中的松鼠和臭鼬。

我的猜想是：squink 就是squirrel和skunk的派生词，就是说的一种又象松鼠又象skunk的动物，可以表达为“怪物”之类的。

squirrel：n.松鼠，疯子，怪人
squirrel: adj.美俚]古怪的; 乖癖的; 疯狂的, 毫无意义的

skunk：n.臭鼬、鼬鼠，讨厌鬼
hotter than a skunk ：烂醉


所以我想，既然是派生词，那形容词squinky就可能也包含了这些意思。

确实查到squinky有很多种意思，至少包括：

*That awkward feeling when someone really disgusting is hitting on you.
*When one is feeling unstable or is acting of a peculiar manner.
*The state one reaches from days of sleep deprevation or drug use.

例句：
1. He had about six gold chains and tried to actually touch me, and it made me feel so squinky I had to get out of th

2. I told a joke, and the silence in the room made me feel all squinky. This was not my crowd.

所以根据上下文的不同，squinky或许可以理解为：令我恶心、令我郁闷、酒后眩晕等等，不知妥否？

[沿路美景]

Sunday best

源自Sunday best clothes, traditionally reserved for wearing to church on Sundays .西方人有星期日去教堂做礼拜的习惯，再穷的人都会穿上自己最好的衣服。于是，“星期日穿的衣服”（Sunday clothes）就成了“最好的衣服”

例句：
1.I put on my Sunday best for the occasion.为了这一盛事，我穿上了自己最好的衣服。

2.I'm leaving work early tonight. I want to go home and put on my Sunday best because I am going out with a very special friend to try that new French restaurant we hear is so good. 我今天准备早一点下班。我要先回家去换上我的漂亮衣服。因为我要跟一个非常特殊的朋友一起去那个新开张的法国饭馆去试一试。我们听说那个饭馆非常好


Sunday driver

有些老年人平时不太出门，唯一出门的时候就是星期天开车到教堂去。他们往往开车开得很慢、很胆怯。现在Sunday driver就是指那些开起车来很慢、很胆小的人，也可指新手。

例句：
1.Damn it! I wish I could get around this guy in front of me -- he must be a Sunday driver. He's only going thirty miles an hour and everybody else is going at least fifty.

真讨厌，我真希望我能超过前面那辆车。那人肯定是一个开慢车的人。他的速度只有每小时三十英里，而其他所有的人都至少开每小时五十英里。


2.My dad is eighty-five and naturally he drives much slower than before. He said that he doesn't care if people consider him a Sunday driver so long as he feels safe. But he doesn't realize that to drive too slowly can be dangerous too.

我爸爸已经八十五岁，他比以前开车开得慢多了.这也是自然的。他老是说，只要他感到安全，别人说他开车开太慢他不在乎。可是，他不知道车开得太慢也是危险的

[沿路美景]

All mouth and trousers：From the figurative associations of mouth and trousers.（idiomatic）Superficial, engaging in empty, boastful talk, but not of real substance. 只说不做，光打雷不下雨。

由mouth和trousers的意思引申而来，譬如两者的共同点：empty，也有人用作：all mouth no delivery, 但是被认为不够尊重文化

例句：They talked all night about how to solve the problems, but wouldn’t do anything to help. Their trouble was that they were all mouth and trousers.
他们整晚都在谈论该如何如何解决这些问题，可就是不肯动手帮忙。他们的毛病是光说不做。


Big mouth :If someone is or has a big mouth, they tend to say things which are meant to be kept secret. 大嘴巴

例句：You can't trust Harry with a secret. He's such a big mouth.
不能告诉哈里秘密，他这个人多嘴口松，守不住话。


Motor mouth.
Motor就是发动机，Motor mouth就是那种滔滔不绝,除了喘气之外，说话没完的人。这种人的嘴巴就像一部机器，或汽车一样，发动了以后就好象停不下来了。

例句：Dick is a nice guy. But he's such a motor mouth that people avoid talking to him. He just can't stop talking, and nobody else has a chance to get a word in the conversation.
迪克是一个很好的人。但是，他一说话就没个完，人们都怕跟他说话。他说话的时候就是停不下来，在谈话的过程中，没有任何人插得进嘴。


Others：
Have a tight mouth:嘴巴紧

Be all mouth :空话连篇

To bad-mouth；讲坏话

A close mouth catches no flies 嘴唇紧闭，苍蝇难进（口紧不召祸）