aftermath = 劫後餘生?數學真的這麼討人厭?
「aftermath」的意思是「(不愉快事件的)後果」。
你也覺得合理嗎?
這個單字真的和數學有關?
還有一款遊戲 World War Z: Aftermath,中文翻成《末日之戰:劫後餘生》。
經歷過數學之後,就像是劫後餘生。
不管你覺得多有道理,我必須告訴你。
aftermath 和數學一點關係都沒有
aftermath 在根據韋氏線上英文字典(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary)上的資料如下:
At first glance, one might calculate aftermath to be closely related to mathematics and its cropped form math. But the math of mathematics (which came to English ultimately from Greek) and the math of aftermath grew from different roots.
Aftermath dates to the late 1400s and was originally an agricultural term, an offshoot of the ancient word math, meaning “a mowing.”
The original aftermath came, of course, after the math: it was historically the crop cut, grazed, or plowed under after the first crop of the season from the same soil. (Math is still used in some parts of the United Kingdom to refer to a mowing of a grass or hay crop, as well as to the crop that is mowed.)
It wasn’t until the mid-1600s that aftermath came to have the meanings now familiar to us, referring to the period of time following a destructive event, or to a negative consequence or result.
大概是說:
乍看之下,aftermath 和數學有關,但「數學」的 math 是從希臘傳入,和「後果」的 math 是不同的根源。
「後果」的 math 源自西元1400年代末,是農業用詞,意思是「割草」。
aftermath 一開始是指:在一片土地上,收穫第一季作物後,作物被割除、放牧、犁地。
到了1600年代中期,aftermath 才變成現在的含意,也就是「破壞性事件後的一段時間」或是「負面的後果、結果」。
粗暴一點的說法:
aftermath 指的是「你被當草割後覺得很慘」,並不是「算完數學後覺得很受傷」。
拿數學開開玩笑是OK啦,不過笑笑之餘,還是補足點知識吧。