昔日文章
Stories Behind Popular Sayings
2018.10.05
There is no such thing as a free lunch
Your parents might have told you something like this, “There is no such thing as a free lunch. You have to work hard so that you can support yourself when you grow up.” Do you agree with your parents?
The saying “there is no such thing as a free lunch” (TINSTAAFL) or “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch (TANSTAAFL) is a famous adage widely used in economics since the mid-20th century. It means that if you want to get something such as goods or services, you need to pay for it in one way or another. Otherwise, will not receive it for free.
The phrase “free lunch” in the saying was not used to describe the practice of donating free meals to the poor. Instead, in the mid-19th century in the USA, to entice customers, saloons offered them foods free of charge if they bought a beer. However, customers ended up buying more beer because many foods were high in salt, and when they enjoyed a long, happy meal with their friends or families.
While it is uncertain when the adage “there is no such thing as a free lunch”(世上沒有免費的午餐)first appeared, scholars believed that its popularity was due to two authors.
The first one was American Robert Heinlein. In his science fiction called “The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress” in 1966, he wrote,
“...‘tanstaafl.’ Means ~There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch ...”
The second author was the well-known American economist Milton Friedman. He published a book entitled “There’s No Such Thing as a Free Lunch” in 1977.
Glossary
Adage
格言
Economics
經濟學
Goods
貨品
Donating
捐贈
Entice
吸引
Saloons
酒吧
Free of charge
免費
Beer
啤酒
Stories Behind Popular Sayings
2018.09.28
VIP
Very often when you dine out or go shopping with your family, you will see the following slogan on some promotional leaflets:
Become a VIP and enjoy all of these exclusive privileges.
A VIP is someone who is given special treatment because they are famous or influential. What do these three letters stand for in the English language? The acronym “VIP” is formed from the initial letters of the phrase “very important person”.
It was said that this saying was created during the Second World War (1939 – 1945) by British military officers. Since it was sensitive to disclose the names of high-ranking personnel in wartime, they used “VIP” (大人物;要人;貴賓) in communications of high confidentiality.
However, some scholars found that “VIP” was used by Scottish writer Compton Mackenzie in his book “Water on the Brain” in 1933, before World War II.
“..., and her voice sank to a tense whisper, ‘at the moment he has a V.I.P. with him.’ ... she turned round and whispered through a pursed up mouth, ‘Very Important Personage,’ ...”
You may notice that “P” stands for “personage” in the book. It is uncertain when “person” started to represent “P” in the history of this word formation.
When an acronym becomes more accepted by people, it tends to drop the full stops between the letters (i.e. from “V.I.P.” to “VIP”).
In terms of usage, the term “VIP” can be used in the plural or as an adjective:
All the VIPs have arrived at the meeting on time.
This airport has a VIP lounge.
GLOSSARY
Slogan
口號
Promotional leaflets
宣傳單張
Exclusive privileges
專享優惠
Influential
有影響力的
Acronym
首字母縮略詞
Sensitive
敏感的
Confidentiality
機密
Personage
人物
Stories Behind Popular Sayings
2018.09.21
Ticket Scalpers
About three weeks ago, two mainland ticket scalpers were sent to prison by the court after they were caught selling tickets for a stand-up show by Dayo Wong(黃子華).
The American slang term “ticket scalpers” refers to someone who re-sells tickets for a popular entertainment or sports event for more than their official price. The word “scalpers” first appeared in a ditty in “Harper’s Magazine” in 1869.
Where theatres are all the run,
And bloody scalpers come to trade.
The saying originated from an old practice of American Indians (美國印第安人) as early as the 17th century. They scalped the skin from the head of an animal in order to obtain a reward or removed the hair from the top of their enemy’s head as a battle trophy.
Today, scalping is extended to various re- selling activities at a price higher than the original value. In British English, ticket scalpers are called “ticket touts”, which started to be used in the 20th century. What is this in the Chinese language?
Chinese people use “yellow cows” to describe the dealers who snap up the tickets and cause a commotion like a herd of yellow cows. Can you think of any places where you may see “yellow cows”n Hong Kong?
The background stories of these terms carry negative connotations. Greedy ticket scalpers or touts have been a thorny problem for years in many countries because true fans are left frustrated for failing to get hold of any tickets. Therefore, the governments have been urged to take action in cooperation with companies to stop this unlawful practice.
GLOSSARY
Ditty 小曲
Scalped 剝取頭皮
Trophy 戰利品
Snap up 搶購
Commotion 騷動
Connotations 涵義
Thorny 棘手
Unlawful 非法的
Stories Behind Popular Sayings
2018.09.14
Standing on the shoulders of giants
After a long summer holiday, your classmates and you have gone back to school. Despite the easy access to information via the internet nowadays, it is still important to attend school in order to receive an all-round education. A good school education can enable you to see new horizons by standing on the shoulders of giants.
The saying “standing on the shoulders of giants” means that you can make rapid progress from the success and failure of the great thinkers who have preceded you. This saying is widely used in scientific exploration. Actually it was a famous scientist who made this phrase well-known in the world. Who was he?
Isaac Newton (伊薩克.牛頓), the British scientist who discovered the effects of gravity, wrote this in a letter to his fellow scientist, Robert Hooke, in 1676.
“If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
「如果我看得更遠,是因為我站在巨人的肩上。」
Newton felt that without building on the tremendous efforts made by other scientists, he could not have made further achievements in scientific discoveries.
Some scholars believe that this saying started as early as the 12th century. In his book “Metalogicon”, John of Salisbury, an English bishop, wrote that:
“Bernard of Chartres used to compare us to … dwarfs perched on the shoulders of giants.”
This saying has drawn much attention in modern times after the Royal Mint of the United Kingdom(英國皇家鑄幣局)inscribed it on the edge of its £2 coin issued between 1997 and 2015. Do take a good look at the edge if you ever have a £2 coin.
Glossary
Horizons
眼界
Progress
進步
Preceded
居先於
Gravity
引力
Tremendous efforts
巨大努力
Achievements
成就
Inscribed
刻在
Edge
邊緣