文化"大不敬":小心英文雷區

Everyone wants a piece of Jeremy Lin. From Linsanity to Lin-credible then Va-Lin-tine, news headlines have been trying to find wordplays to match the new sensation on the NBA court with his meteoric shoot to stardom.

人人都想跟林書豪扯上點關係。從“林瘋狂”、“林不思議”，到“情林節”，新聞標題中變着花樣地玩着文字遊戲，來描述這位一夜成名的NBA新星。

However, "A Chink in the Armor", a news headline that blamed Lin for his team's loss of a game, is obviously a turnoff which threw a PR disaster at ESPN, one of world's major sports network. It also cost an editor his job. The charge is racism.

然而，一條指責林書豪導致他所在球隊輸掉比賽的新聞標題——“盔甲上的中國佬”卻令人大倒胃口，也將身爲全球最大的體育新聞網之一的娛樂體育節目電視網身陷公關危機。一位編輯甚至被炒了魷魚，罪名是使用種族主義詞彙。

The case again reminds Americans that while the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, a wrong choice of word might ignite a bomb.

這一事件讓美國人再次意識到，雖然美國憲法第一修正案確保了言論的自由，但錯誤的措辭可能會引起軒然大波。

It's also a warning to people outside the country who engage in international communications.

這也爲其他國家從事國際交流的人士敲響了警鐘。

Racism

種族主義

Put aside the context, the phrase "Chink in the armor" means the weak point in a supposedly strong defense. It is somewhat similar to "a fly in the ointment".

如果不考慮具體語境，“盔甲上的破綻”這句短語指的是本該萬無一失的防禦中出現的弱點，有點類似於“軟膏裏的蒼蠅”這個短語（意爲一粒老鼠屎壞了一鍋粥或令人掃興的人或事物）。

The phrase is often deployed in sports writing to describe a player's weakness which affects the whole team.

這一短語經常出現在體育報道中，用來形容因爲某位隊員的弱勢而導致整個團隊受影響。

But the word is also a racial slur against Chinese people.

但同時Chink這個詞也是對中國人帶有種族主義的誹謗。

With Lin's Chinese heritage, the "Chink in the armor" was soon bombarded for its racial implication. To quiet public fury, ESPN issued an apology: "We regret and apologize for this mistake."

由於林書豪的中國背景，這則題爲“盔甲上的破綻（Chink在俚語中，貶義指中國佬）”的報道因帶有種族主義色彩，很快招致人們炮轟。爲平息衆怒，ESPN公開道歉：“我們對這一錯誤表示遺憾和歉意。”

Political correctness

政治正確性

Racist comment is taboo. But there are many more minefields that people try to avoid in daily life to avoid public offense.

帶有種族主義色彩的評論是一大禁忌。但日常生活中存在更多的雷區，人們需要儘量迴避以免引發衆怒。

Former Harvard president Lawrence Summers in 2005 explained why there were fewer female scientists in elite universities. He put it down to different innate ability between men and women.

在2005年，哈佛大學前任校長勞倫斯•薩莫斯（音譯）在解釋了爲何頂尖大學中女性科學家人數較少這一問題時。他將其歸因於男女天生有別。

This caused a furor. Summers issued an apology: "I was wrong to have spoken in a way that has resulted in an unintended signal of discouragement to talented girls and women."

此舉引發轟動。薩莫斯公開致歉說：“我錯誤地用那樣的方式說話，無意地發出了錯誤的信號，讓有才能的女性感到受挫。”

Interpretations of history can cause offense. A French politician was sentenced to jail recently for remarks about the Nazi occupation of France.

詮釋歷史也會觸怒公衆。最近，法國一位政治家就因其關於納粹佔領法國的言論而被判入獄。

His remarks were considered "politically incorrect".

他的言論被認爲是“政治上不正確的”。

In the book A Short History of Political Correctness, Ruth Perry explains that in order to cause minimum offense to race, gender, age, profession, religion, culture, disability and so on, political correctness, as an umbrella, functions as a social consensus on language, policy, behavior and other ideas to ensure no social group suffers from discrimination.

在《政治正確性簡史》一書中，魯茲•帕瑞（音譯）解釋說，政治正確性是一把保護傘，作爲就語言、政治、行爲及其他思想而達成的社會共識，以確保所有社會羣體不受歧視，最大程度上減小對宗族、性別、年齡、職業、宗教、文化、殘疾的冒犯。

Thus any ignite violation of social taboos and political correctness could cause damage.

因此任何違反社會禁忌以及政治正確性的導火索都可能帶來傷害。

"We live in a culture in which a breach of political correctness is criminal," said Leo Schwartz in the Columbia Daily Spectator last week.

“在我們所處的文化之中，違反政治正確性即是犯罪。”里奧•施瓦茲（音譯）於上週的《哥倫比亞觀察家》中如是說。

Taboo-buster

禁忌語大掃除

Don't joke about bombs: A new taboo due to the US' war on terrorism. Remember Chandler Bing in Friends? He is detained for a joke. In real life, the consequences could be far worse.

不要拿炸彈來開玩笑：這是美國反恐戰爭所產生的最新禁忌語。記得《老友記》中的錢德賓（音譯）嗎？他因爲一個玩笑而被扣押。在實際生活中，其後果可能更嚴重。

Nigger: A taboo and very offensive word to call a black person. Although black brothers call each other nigger, you can't.

Nigger（意爲黑鬼）：這是一個禁忌語，而且對黑人一種十分不敬的稱謂。儘管黑人兄弟間彼此這樣稱呼，但你不行。