| 词源 |
mad as a wet hen. Hens don’t become very upset from get- ting wet, so this old expression isn’t a particularly apt one. An Americanism that dates back to the early 19th century, it was apparently based on the false assumption that a hen, being ex- clusively a land animal, unlike, say, the duck, would go beserk if caught in the rain or doused with water. Better was the old ex- pression wet hen for “a prostitute.” |