| 词源 |
bloody. Partridge’s Word, Words, Words! has a 2,000-word essay on bloody, which has been an objectionable adjective in Britain since the early 1800s, though it had been respectable enough for a century before. Meaning “very,” it may have become objectionable because it suggested menstruation, or suggested the profanity “By’r Lady”—many plausible and implausible suggestions have been made. But Partridge be- lieved that “the idea of blood suffices” to explain the squeam- ishness. Bloody is often inserted for emphasis within words, as in abso-bloody-lutely. |