时髦英语口语词汇讲解第49期:Wuss! 窝囊废!

He's a 'wuss.' She's a 'wuss.'
他/她是个胆小鬼/软弱无力的人。

It means ineffectual person, indecisive, weak.
wuss指的是没有一技之长的并且优柔寡断和软弱的人。

It's from the United States; it came in in the 1980s.
这个单词来自美国，在上个世纪80年代开始出现。

To be honest, I didn't think it would last, but it's still here.
说实话，我并不觉得这个词会持续存在多久，但是，它现在仍然还在。

It has a very unclear etymology.
它的起源是不清楚的。

It may be from 'wussy' - that is from pussy wussy, you know, the pussy cat. It's a kind of talking down about a cat.
也许是来自wussy这个单词——pussy wussy，你知道的，就是‘没种的家伙/小猫咪’，这让猫咪受到了某种歧视呢。

Or it might be a blend of 'wimp' - that is an ineffectual person - plus 'pussy': wimp/pussy, wussy, wuss.
这个词也许是wimp和pussy的一个混合词：wimp/pussy, wussy, wuss。wimp的意思也是‘没用的家伙’。

'Stop being a wuss!' - that's the usage you hear a lot these days. Anyway, whatever the etymology, a politician was said to be 'a liberal wuss' - that is a coward.
‘别再做个懦夫/没用鬼！’——大家现在经常听到这种用法。不管怎么说，不管词源是什么，反正有个政客就落下了‘自由党的懦夫’——就是说他是个胆小鬼！

And there are even Wuss Awards now.
现在甚至有‘懦夫奖’呢。

I saw on the web the other day, 'Who was the biggest Wuss of 2005?' - with a capital W - this is obviously something very attractive to be.
我那天在网站上看到‘谁是2005年度胆小鬼？’——里面用了大写的W。很明显，这是非常吸引人的东西。

The word seems to be developing.
这个单词好像也在慢慢地扩展词义。

It's become a verb - 'Stop wussing!'
它已经变成了一个动词——Stop wussing!别再做个窝囊废！

'Ah! He's wussing around!'
啊，他总是一副懦弱胆小的模样！

And I've even seen a new noun, wusser, wussers - 'We're all wussers now!'
我甚至看见了一个新的名词——wusser被使用：We're all wussers now!我们都是一群窝囊废！

'We've all become a complete pack of complete wussers,' says somebody on a website.
网上有人这样说，‘我们变成了一群彻头彻尾的胆小鬼！’