| 词源 |
blood is thicker than water. This was the reply of U.S. com- modore Josiah Tattnall on the Peiho River, China, in 1859, when he went to the aid of the British against the Chinese and was told this step would violate U.S. neutrality. But Tattnall didn’t invent the phrase, which is recorded in German as far back as the 12th century. Tattnall was referring, of course, to the close ties between the Americans and British. It is inter- esting to note that blood has a specific gravity of 1.06—only slightly thicker than water, which has a specific gravity of 1.00! |