Go south / Head south

2020-11-22 中國日報網
Go south / Head south
 你知道It's gone south和It went south的意思嗎？ 它是指"讓我們去南方"嗎？這裡south 到底是指哪裡？

如果你把所有的It's gone south都認為是"去南方"的意思， 那可就犯錯誤了，實際上很多情況下它已經沒有"去南方"的意思了，而是"情況變得越來越糟糕"的意思。South在這裡為什麼會有這層意思呢？會不會是短語sell down the river（欺騙某人, 出賣某人)中"down" 所指的當年奴隸制度盛行的美國南部地區？

當我們使用to go south / to head south的比喻義時，其表達的意思是"下降，變壞；數量、質量或價值的減少"。To go south和to sell down the river這兩條習語基本上沒什麼聯繫， 最多，我們經常將"去南方"(to go to the south)說成"南下"(to go down to the south)。

這種聯繫還要歸功於偉大的古希臘地理學家和天文學家託勒密。公元2世紀時，託勒密繪製成了世界地圖，他的地球是方的，且北部在上方，南在下。他的地理學理論在15世紀的歐洲得到復興，並成為所有地圖繪製工作必須遵循的標準。從此，"去南方"就成了"南下"。

據《美國習語用法詞典》記載go south的用法在20世紀初就有了。但我們目前資料庫中最早的用法已經是1974年9月21日出版的《商業周刊》: "The market then rallies, falls back to test its low--and just keeps 'heading South,' as they say on the Street." 查閱20世紀80年代前的報刊雜誌，幾乎所有用到go south的地方用的都是其字面意思，而沒有什麼比喻義用法的跡象。例如："clothes designed for those who go South for the winter"，又如路標指示語中所用到的"go south on Route 424"等等。

1985年2月出版的電視文摘公司《每日通訊》上有go south做習語用的句子: "Rosy view of VCR impact was somewhat contradicted during dinner talk by Frank Biondi, exec. vp of Coca-Cola's Entertainment Business Sector and ex-chmn. of HBO. In other countries, when VCR penetration hits 30%, 'theatrical attendance starts to go south and very quickly,' Biondi said."

但當時south仍經常被加引號使用，說明這個短語的比喻義用法還不那麼被廣泛接受。在一場籃球賽事後所做的評論裡，勝方的一名隊員被引述說: "We were fortunate. When you play on the road, things can go 'south' for you" (摘自美聯社1986年1月24日電訊).出現在1986年的一則引語當中的south是用來指人的: "'Then all but one of those I nominated voted for the freeway site', the Mayor remarked wryly. 'You know people you put in office go south on you sometimes'" (摘自《紐約時報》).

今天，如果翻翻流行雜誌的話，會發現go south的比喻義用法比比皆是。1990年12月一篇有關電腦的文章裡寫到："A PC clone may go south, and you're left with a pile of junk that is not supported by anyone" (InfoWorld)。而Forbes Magazine一篇文章裡預測電腦銷售前景不妙的標題更能生動地體現這個短語的意思："PC Sales Go South For The Holidays."

總之，go south跟南部地區(the South)沒有什麼關係；它不過是根據地圖"上北下南"的規定，才用來代表任何下降趨勢、走勢。如果是某些人go south，這意味著他們某種程度上讓你失望了；如果是股票市場go south，你將很可能會被套牢；如果運動員go south，這意味著他或她已經過了巔峰時期；如果是電腦的軟硬體go south，那意味著這些軟硬體壞了。go south是一個非常有表現力的習語，可以非常靈活的用於表述各種帶有貶義的情形。

(中國日報網站譯)
 
 

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