早午餐問題:“各付各的”到底是什么意思?

Brunch Query: What Does It Really Mean To 'Go Dutch'?

早午餐問題:“各付各的”到底是什么意思?

You're at brunch with your friends on Sunday morning and after stuffing yourself with pancakes, your server comes up to you and says, "Is this going to be on one check or — "

周日早上，你和朋友們一起吃早午餐，吃完煎餅后，服務員過來問你:“這是一次付賬還是—”

"Separate!" you all proclaim.

“分開！”你們都聲稱。

And why would you? It's pretty customary to pay for your own meal, or to go Dutch.

你為什么要這么做?付自己的餐費，或者各付各的都是很常見的。

But it wasn't always the norm to split the check when going out with friends. In fact, in early English society, it was seen as selfish to invite someone out to eat and not pay for their meal.

但是，和朋友出去吃飯時，平分賬單并不總是常見的。事實上，在早期的英國社會，邀請別人出去吃飯而不付錢被認為是自私的。

Steven Pincus, a historian from the University of Chicago who focuses on early modern Europe, explains that after the English Civil War ended in 1651, the English were desperate to get life back to normal. This meant following certain codes of conduct that displayed class hierarchies and good Christian behavior.

芝加哥大學歷史學家史蒂文平卡斯主要研究早期現(xiàn)代歐洲，他解釋說，1651年英國內戰(zhàn)結束后，英國人迫切希望恢復正常的生活。這意味著遵循了一定的顯示階級層次和良好的基督教行為的行為準則。

"It was really important in this world to demonstrate your gentility, or gentlemanliness, by hospitality," Pincus says. By not being generous, you were undermining both the crown and God.

平卡斯說:“在這個世界上，通過熱情好客來展現(xiàn)你的紳士風度是非常重要的。”你如果不慷慨，就是在詆毀王權和上帝。

The origins of the phrase "going Dutch" are a little complicated, but Pincus and Katherine Martin, a specialist in historical and contemporary lexicography with the Oxford University Press, helped us track the complex history of this idiom.

短語“各付各的”的起源有點復雜，但是平卡斯和牛津大學出版社歷史和當代詞典編纂專家凱瑟琳·馬丁幫助我們追溯了這個成語的復雜歷史。

First, we have to take it back all the way to the 1600s. During the Anglo-Dutch Wars, there were multiple conflicts between the English and the Dutch over trade and naval power.

首先，我們要把它帶回17世紀。英荷戰(zhàn)爭期間，英荷兩國在貿易和海軍實力上發(fā)生了多次沖突。

That led to a rise in negative idioms from the English regarding their enemy, the Dutch: phrases like "Dutch courage," the false courage brought on by alcoholic binges; or "Dutch reckoning," which is a ridiculously high bill on which you've likely been scammed.

這導致英國人對他們的敵人荷蘭人的負面成語增加:像“荷蘭人的勇氣”這樣的短語，意思是由酗酒帶來的虛假勇氣;或者“荷蘭人的清算”，這是一個高得離譜的賬單，高到你可能被騙了。

Pincus explains that this was because the English saw the Dutch not only as a trading enemy, but also as a people with questionable morals. According to Pincus, the English "claimed that the Dutch had been completely corrupted by their commitment to capitalism."

平卡斯解釋說，這是因為英國人不僅把荷蘭人視為貿易敵人，還把荷蘭人視為道德有問題的民族。根據(jù)平卡斯的說法，英國人“聲稱荷蘭人完全被他們對資本主義的承諾所腐化。”

After the wars were over, the English were desperate to reestablish order in their society. The monarchy had been restored, and it was time to return to normal. But as England became more and more urban, with influences from different parts of Europe, norms naturally began to change in some places.

戰(zhàn)爭結束后，英國人急于重建社會秩序。君主制已經(jīng)恢復，是時候恢復正常了。但隨著英國變得越來越城市化，受歐洲不同地區(qū)的影響，一些地方的規(guī)范自然開始發(fā)生變化。

Occasionally, these phrases have a tenuous connection to the culture they're referencing. But more often than not, they say more about the cultures using them than the ones they're directed at. It's a way of saying who we are and who we most certainly are not.

有時候，這些短語與它們所指代的文化之間有著微妙的聯(lián)系。但更常見的情況是，他們更多地談論使用的文化，而不是他們所針對的文化。這是一種表達我們是誰和我們肯定不是誰的方式。

Of course, as norms change, so does our sense of self. After all, who wants to pay for their friends' meals all the time?

當然，隨著規(guī)范的改變，我們的自我意識也在改變。畢竟，誰愿意一直為朋友的餐費買單呢?

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