湯姆·沃爾夫. 博聞網. （原始內容存檔於2013-07-26） （中文（中國大陸））改沒年
湯姆·沃爾夫（小托馬斯·肯納利·沃爾夫）（Tom Wolfe，1931-2018），美國記者、作家。他的報導風格大膽，以使用俚語、造詞和異端的標點為特徵。他對新聞運動影響深遠。沃爾夫的作品通過描述當時的時尚文化，熟練的捕捉到當時社會上人們的心態，諷刺性地描寫了美國社會。《電科爾援助者的嚴峻考驗》（The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test）*（1968年）是他最著名的小說之一，是他與肯·科塞、梅麗·普蘭克斯特等一群嬉皮士的旅行記錄。這本書描寫了一群嬉皮士通過吸毒、波希米亞式生活和穿越國家的旅行來尋找自我實現。
沃爾夫出生在弗吉尼亞州的里士滿，在華盛頓大學和李大學獲得學士學位，在耶魯大學獲得哲學博士學位。他的幾部書中都配有自己畫的插圖。
沃爾夫的散文集包括：《康提科洛舞薄橘型嬰孩》（The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby）（1965年）、《水泵房幫》（1968年）、《新潮精緻的服侍和矛矛黨人的槍砲手》（Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers）（1970年）和《在我們的時代》（1980年）。《著色的世界》（1975年）和《從鮑豪斯建築學派到我們的房子》（1981年）是對現代藝術和現代建築的批評。小說《正確的素材》（1979年）和《虛榮的篝火》（1987年）改編成電影。《充實的男人》（1998年）是他最新的小說。
* 此書日譯本
- 『クール・クール LSD交感テスト』The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968) 飯田隆昭訳 太陽社 1971
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《伍迪‧艾倫手札選粹》台北：頂淵，1988
這本218頁的書，全是方塊字，沒附英文，連末篇 Slang Origins都如此，真是天書。這本要英文很高段才可還原出原文......。
The collection Without Feathers by Woody Allen has a chapter titled Slang Origins which attempts to find humor in etymology with uneven success. I listened to Allen reading the chapter himself while I was driving yesterday (via an Audible audiobook on an iPhone bluetooth-connected to my car audio system). Without Feathers was published in 1975 so to some list members this report is 37 years out of date. I highly recommend Allen's reading of his short work "The Whore of Mensa" which is included in Without Feathers. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1974/12/16/1974_12_16_037_TNY_CARDS_000311812
Slang Origins Summary
While this essay claims it will reveal the origins of certain slang expressions, the author freely admits that he didn't bother consulting a credible authority, relying instead on his own common sense and the opinions of friends.
The author claims that the phrase "humble pie" comes from France, where the minister of justice once suffocated, dying in humiliation while attempting to eat a huge "jumbo pie." The word "jumbo" eventually became "jumble" and that eventually became "humble" due to Spanish influence. Across the channel, meanwhile, the phrase "take it on the lam" was born from an English game called "lamming" in which people affixed feathers to themselves using a tube of ointment. The relationship to its modern use is unclear to the author.
To "get into a beef" comes from the Renaissance when, the author reveals, slabs of meat were used...
Slang Origins
by Woody Allen
How many of you have ever wondered where certain slang expressions come from? Like "She's the cat's pajamas," or to "take it on the lam." Neither have I. And yet for those who are interested in this sort of thing I have provided a brief guide to a few of the more interesting origins.
Unfortunately, time did not permit consulting any of the established works on the subject, and I was forced to either get the information from friends or fill in certain gaps by using my own common sense.
Take, for instance, the expression "to eat humble pie." During the reign of Louis the Fat, the culinary arts flourished in France to a degree unequaled anywhere. So fat was the French king that he had to be lowered onto the throne with a winch and packed into the seat itself with a large spatula. A typical dinner (according to DeRochet) consisted of a thin crepe appetizer, some parsley, an ox, and custard. Food became the court obsession, and no other subject could be discussed under penalty of death. Members of a decadent aristocracy consumed incredible meals and even dressed as foods. DeRochet tells us that M. Monsant showed up at the coronation as a weiner, and Etienne Tisserant received papal dispensation to wed his favorite codfish. Desserts grew more and more complex and pies grew larger and larger until the minister of justice died trying to eat a seven-foot "Jumbo Pie." "Jumbo" pie soon became "jumble" pie and "to eat a jumble pie" referred to any kind of humiliating act. When the Spanish seamen heard the word "jumble," they pronounced it "humble," although many preferred to say nothing and simply smile.
Now, while "humble pie" goes back to the French, "take it on the lam" is English in origin. Years ago, in England, "lamming" was a game played with dice and a large tube of ointment. Each player in turn threw dice and then jumped around the room until he started bleeding. If a person threw seven or under he would say the word "quintz" and proceed to spin quickly. If he threw over seven, he was forced to give every player a part of his feathers and was given a good "lamming." Three "lammings" and a player was "kwirled" or declared immoral. Gradually any game with feathers was called "lamming" and feathers became "lams." To "take it on the lame" meant to put on feathers and later, to escape, although the transition is unclear.
Incidentally, if two of the players disagreed on the rules, we might say they "got into a beef." This term goes back to the Renaissance when a man would chase a woman by rubbing the side of her head with a piece of meat. If she pulled away, it meant she was spoken for. If, however, she assisted by holding the meat to her face and pushing it all over her head, it meant she would marry him. The meat was kept by the bride's parents and worn as a hat on special occasions. If, however, the husband took another lover, the wife could end the marriage by running with the meat to the town square and yelling, "With thine own beef, I do reject thee. Aroo! Aroo!" If a couple "took to the beef" or "had a beef" it meant they were arguing.
Another marriage custom gives us that beautiful expression of dislike, "to look down one's nose." In Persia it was considered a mark of great beauty for a woman to have a long nose. In fact, the longer the nose, the more desirable the female, up to a certain point. Then it became funny. When a man proposed to a beautiful woman he awaited her decision on his knees as she "looked down her nose at him." If her nose itched, he was accepted, but if she sharpened her nose with a rock and began poking him on the neck and shoulders, it meant she loved another.
……
Well, I hope you've enjoyed some of these slang origins and that they make you investigate some on your own. And in case you were wondering about the term used to open this study, "the cat's pajamas," it goes back to an old burlesque show of Chase and Rowe's, the two crazy German professors. Dressed in big coats, Bill Rowe stole some poor victim's pajamas. Dave Chase, who had "poor hearing”, would ask him:
CHASE: Ach, Herr Professor. Vot is dot bulge under your pocket?
ROWE: Dot? Dot's de chap pajamas.
CHASE: The cat's pajamas? Ut mein Gott?
Audiences were angered by this sort of act and only a premature death of the team by strangulation kept them from being stars.
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