英语词汇put on the spot的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

put on the spot. The ace of spades is a symbol of death to the superstitious in many lands; in recent times Vietcong soldiers were so afraid of it that American planes “bombed” their strongholds with thousands of the cards to demoralize them. The expression put on the spot has its origins in this supersti- tion, which probably derives from the old practice among pi- rates of sending the ace of spades, which has one printed “spot” in the middle, as a death threat to an informer or coward they intended to kill. Anyone who was sent the ace of spades was put on the spot, “in a dangerous position, slated to die.” Ameri- can criminals perpetuated the expression, giving it wide cur- rency, and early in the 20th century it took on a less sinister meaning—though someone on the spot is still someone in danger of great failure or embarrassment if he doesn’t produce successful results within a short time.

词汇	put on the spot
词源	put on the spot. The ace of spades is a symbol of death to the superstitious in many lands; in recent times Vietcong soldiers were so afraid of it that American planes “bombed” their strongholds with thousands of the cards to demoralize them. The expression put on the spot has its origins in this supersti- tion, which probably derives from the old practice among pi- rates of sending the ace of spades, which has one printed “spot” in the middle, as a death threat to an informer or coward they intended to kill. Anyone who was sent the ace of spades was put on the spot, “in a dangerous position, slated to die.” Ameri- can criminals perpetuated the expression, giving it wide cur- rency, and early in the 20th century it took on a less sinister meaning—though someone on the spot is still someone in danger of great failure or embarrassment if he doesn’t produce successful results within a short time.
随便看	no applause—just throw money no balm in gilead nobel prize no better than she should be noble experiment noble science noblesse oblige nobody but nobody undersells gimbels nobody home nobody loves goliath nobody never hit nobody nobody-s land no-brainer no bucks no buck rogers no can do no chain on the bike no cheese no bees no trees no comment no dice no flies on him no good deed goes unpunished no great shakes no hits no runs no errors no holds barred nohow