| 词源 |
the dozens. The art of hurling invective at one’s enemies is an ancient one (see logomachy), and American slaves probably brought the verbal exchange called the dozens or dirty dozens with them from Africa, basing it on the Tuareg and Galla game of two opponents cursing one another until one man lost his temper and began fighting with his hands instead of his mouth; he was considered the loser. Alive and thriving today among blacks, the game takes its name not from dozen, “12,” but prob- ably from the Americanism bulldoze, which meant “to bullwhip someone,” especially a slave, the insults likened to whiplashes. See bulldozer. |