鸣鸟不飞怎么不更了:Horseshit跟Bullshit的区别

Horseshit跟Bullshit的区别

The other day I was thinking about the words bullshit and horseshit. Where I am from, these words are used almost interchangably in situations where you think a statement or assertion is false, ridiculous, a lie, etc. I thought it was interesting that we have two very similar words to use in the same situation.

某天我在思考这两个词 — Bullshit跟Horseshit。在我的家乡，当你认为某段陈述或声明是虚假的，荒谬的，或是谎言等时，在这种情境下这两个词几乎完全可以互换使用。这点我认为很有趣，我们有两个非常相似的词用在同样的情境下。2

But then I thought about it some more and realized that they aren’t exactly the same. I wanted to share my thoughts about it and possibly get some feedback on whether or not the following applies to your understanding of these words.

但后来我更深入思考后发觉其实它们并不完全一样。我想分享我对此的想法，并且可能的话，你们能回复我下面所述是否适用于你们对这两个词的理解。1

At first I came to the (possibly wrong) conclusion that bullshit had a more broad application than horseshit. It could be situational as well as verbal, whereas horseshit couldn’t be.

原先，我得出这个（可能是错误的）结论，认为Bullshit比Horseshit有更广的使用范围。它能表达情景也能表达动作，但Horseshit却不能。

For example, if you are angry at being forced into some situation against your will, such as having to wait in a long line, you can say “This is bullshit! I can’t believe it takes an hour to get a movie ticket.” Using horseshit here might be acceptable, but to my ears it sounds slightly unnatural.

例如，当你被迫陷入某种非你所愿的处境，比如排长队，你会说：“This is bullshit! I can’t believe it takes an hour to get a movie ticket.” （简直Bullshit！买张电影票要花我一个小时。） 这里用Horseshit也能接受，但我听起来，Bullshit更自然。

When I think about my little brother, the difference is even clearer. My brother used to play Starcraft a lot. Sometimes something bad would happen in the game due to network latency – maybe a shuttle full of reavers gets killed because the game was slow to register his clicks. When this happened, he would slam his fist on the desk and shout, “F**king bullshit! I moved the shuttle away.”

当我想到我弟弟时，区别就更加明显了。我弟弟以前经常玩《星际争霸》。有时，因为网络延迟，会出现一些不如意的情况 - 例如游戏因为网络太慢而不能响应他的鼠标点击，令载满一飞船的掠夺者被杀。发生这种情况时，他会用拳头猛敲桌子大喊：“F**king bullshit! I moved the shuttle away.”  (他妈的Bullshit，我明明把飞船移开了。）

Here, I think slamming your fist and shouting “F**king horseshit!” sounds completely unnatural. Only bullshit fits.

在这个情况，我认为用拳头猛敲桌子大喊“F**king horseshit!" 听起来十分不自然。

So is that it then? Is the difference between bullshit and horseshit that you can’t use the latter situationally? Not quite.

那么，就如此而已嘛？Bullshit跟Horseshit是否就区别于你不能在特定情境上使用后者？并不完全是。

After some more thought, I imagined that my brother has had a minute to calm down after losing his shuttle full of reavers. He turns away from the monitor to look at me in disbelief. “Fucking horseshit. I moved that shuttle away,” he says shaking his head, inviting some sympathetic response from me. Yes, I saw you click away. It was the game/lag’s fault. Here, horseshit sounds completely natural to me.

经过更多思考，我想象弟弟失去了他一飞船的掠夺者后，他冷静下来。他疑惑地把脸从显示屏那边转过来，看着我， “Fucking horseshit. I moved that shuttle away,” (他妈的Horseshit， 我明明把飞船移开了）他摇着头说，希望能得到我的同情。对啊，我看到你点击移开的，是游戏/延迟的错。在这里，我听起来，Horseshit十分自然。

This I think is the key. Bullshit is emphatic. You can shout it at the sky, fists shaking with rage.

我想这点就是关键。Bullshit是含强调性的。你可以愤怒地挥动拳头，对着上天大喊Bullshit。 

Horseshit is softer. You might say it with disgust, disbelief or a dismissive tone, but you don’t scream it.

而Horseshit就温和些。你能用反感的，疑惑的或轻蔑的语气把它说出来，但你就是不能喊出来。

Don’t get me wrong. You can use bullshit in any situation where you use horseshit. Just not the other way around.

但别误解了。在使用Horseshit的任何情境下，你都可以用Bullshit来代替它。但反过来却不成。