| 词源 |
mop-up operation. Along with concentration camp, another horror of modern warfare, this military term traces back to the Boer War, when the British cleared the last traces of the enemy from territory they had just won—the way a housewife mops up something spilled on the floor. The word mop probably comes from the Latin mappa, “cloth,” which also gives us the word map. Mop fairs, or hiring fairs, were held in England over two centuries ago, with domestics gathering on the fairgrounds ready to be inspected by potential employers. |