Wet Blanket = 打溼的毯子 ?

2021-02-19 奮筆疾書


Wet Blanket

字面上是打溼的毯子,但實際是「掃興」的意思。

Meaning:

A person or thing that ruins other people’s fun by disapproving of what they’re doing, or refusing to join in.

Origin:

該短語源於一種古老的滅火方法,用打溼的毯子來滅火。後來,表示「令人掃興的人或者事」,即 a wet blanket


This term, alluding to a device used to smother a fire, has been around since the early nineteenth century. Mrs. Anne Mathews used it in Tea-Table Talk (1857): 「Such people may be the wet blankets of society.」


例如:



Example:

Come on, jump in the pool! Don’t be such a wet blanket.

Janice is the biggest wet blanket ever. It’s why nobody invites her to their parties anymore.

I hate to sound like a wet blanket, but I have a high fever. I can’t make it to your party. 

Man, we were just joking around! Why do you have to be such a wet blanket

The new curfew regulations are a damn wet blanket for the partygoers of the city.

Hey sorry for being a wet blanket at your pool party last night, I just wasn’t in a good mood.

I hate to be the wet blanket here, but we have to be inside campus by 10:30 p.m, or they will most likely fine us.

I sometimes have to be the wet blanket and restrain my friends, else they will do something that they will regret.


Related idioms:

同樣表示「掃興」的短語還有~

Killjoy

Put a damper on sth.

Damper作名詞,表示減音器。將減音器放在上面,達到抑制效果,口語中就表示「掃興」。

Rain on one's parade 字面的意思是「在某人遊行時下雨」。為慶祝節日或者舉辦盛典,會舉行活動,在這種高興的時候,突然下起雨,那當然是一件非常讓人掃興的事情。

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