總說英國人含蓄內斂，不愛表露感情，不過相對的，英國人卻傾向于用另一種奇怪的方式來釋放情感——用沒有惡意的責罵來表達愛意。當聽到英國人用一些攻擊性詞匯“罵”自己的朋友愛人時，不要吃驚，他們只是在表達喜愛。下面來看看那些看似在罵人，其實是表示友好的詞匯有哪些吧。
Silly-Billy
Billy是男名William的常見縮寫，歷史上比較出名的William有19世紀的威廉四世國王，他經常制造一些毫無意義的扯淡演講和愚蠢舉止，因此被人們嘲笑為Silly-Billy。這個短語因為朗朗上口而流傳了下來?，F(xiàn)在，當某人犯糊涂時，他就會得到一句親切的Silly-Billy。比如：“離論文截止只剩一個小時了，他才開始趕論文？！真是個Silly-billy！”
'Billy' is a common shortening of the boy's name 'William'. King William IV (4th) in the 1800s was well-known for his rambling,nonsensical speeches and foolish manner, and so came to be known as'Silly-Billy'. The phrase caught on, perhaps because of its catchyrhyme, and 'silly-billy' is now used as a term of endearment when someone's being a little daft. As in - 'He only started his essay this morning and the deadline's in an hour?! What asilly-billy!'
Chump
這是我最喜歡的一個詞，因為我爸在我和我哥哥小的時候總對我們說。如果有人沒仔細思考就做了傻事，你就可以這么罵他。比如：“你又把作業(yè)丟進洗衣機了？！你這個Chump！”。顯然chump可以看做是chunk（大塊）和lump(笨拙)的合體。所以Chump大概就是那種笨拙愚鈍的感覺。
One of my favourites, as my Dad would use it pretty liberally towards me and my brother when we were children.Referring to aperson who's done something silly without putting in much thought -perhaps 'Your homework's in the washing machine again?! Youchump!'Apparently, 'chump' can be thought of as a mix of the words'chunk' and 'lump'- so basically, things that are, like a chump, abit dense。
Twit
根據(jù)“在線語源詞典”，twit曾經是個動詞，意識是批評和指責。后來演變?yōu)橐粋€名詞，指的是某些非得罵上一番的蠢人。英國有一本著名的兒童讀物叫《TheTwits》，講述了一對頑皮的老夫婦成天在對方身上搞惡作劇。也許是這本書讓帶動了這個名詞的普及，不過日常應用中，Twits還是一個滿懷愛意的詞，用來形容那些無比親近卻又像那對老夫婦一樣讓人煩惱的人。
According to the 'Online Etymology Dictionary', 'twit' was oncea verb, meaning to blame or reproach someone. It then developedinto a noun - unsurprisingly, describing someone that needed blaming or reproaching for being foolish. There's a popular children's book in the UK called 'TheTwits', which describes areally nasty old couple who just play tricks on each other. This may have brought the word into common usage, but its everyday application is still quite affectionate, used towards someone nowhere near as horrible as the characters。
Numpty
2007年的一次投票結果顯示，numpty是蘇格蘭人最喜歡的詞，不過它在整個英國也被廣泛使用。據(jù)推測，它應該源于一個已經過時的詞numps，意思是愚蠢。numpty的意思就是有點白癡：“她走了三英里去還書結果發(fā)現(xiàn)書忘在家啦？真是numpty！”
According to a 2007 poll, 'numpty' is Scotland's favourite word,but it's also used throughout the wider UK. It supposedly derives from the now outdated word 'numps', meaning stupid. So, a 'numpty'is a bit of an idiot - 'She walked 3 miles to return the book butleft it at home?! The numpty'。
Wally
如果說一個人wally，就是在說他有點愚鈍，沒把事情仔細思考清楚。這個單詞背后的故事不太明確，但是有個都市傳說：在20世紀60年代的一次音樂節(jié)上，一個叫Wally的樂迷(也有版本說是樂迷的狗)走丟了。人們花了一整個周末去找他，最后所有的觀眾都在叫著“Wally！Wally！”。這場鬧劇肯定持續(xù)了很久。有趣的是，美國的一本謎語書《Waldo在哪？》在英國被叫做《Wally在哪？》，很可能是因為Wally這個詞有著“傻”的含義，就像這本書一樣。
Someone who's a wally is probably also a bit of a chump -they just haven't thought things through very well. The story behind its originis a little dubious, but urban-legend has it that, at a 1960smusic-festival, a festival-goer (or, in some accounts, his dog)named Wally got lost. The search for him lasted all weekend, and left the entire festival audience shouting 'Wally! Wally!'. It must have stuck. Interestingly, the US quiz book 'Where's Waldo?' iscalled 'Where's Wally?' in the UK, probably because 'Wally' has the connotations of being silly, just like the book itself。
這種含蓄又不像漢語里的雙關語，所以與英國人交流，要讀懂他們的說話的真正意思還真是有點難度。
