老外在中国：在中国学母语英语什么感觉_其他

老外在中国：在中国学母语英语什么感觉

小时候祖父母也带过我，所以我的话语中总会有一些过时的表达。当某人因为运动或过度劳累而受伤时，我可能会说他们“stove-up”。现在大多数人不理解这个说法。当我试着在dictionary.com上查找这个词时，搜索结果却是“你想要查找的词语是‘stovetop’吗？”

Merriam-Webster tells us it’s an adjectival form of the verb “stave up”. “Staves” can be pieces of wood used to make a barrel, and Southern Mountain Speech by Cratis D. Williams says “stave” also can mean to break to pieces, splinter, shatter – the apparent origin of my peculiar expression.

韦氏词典的查找结果是，这是动词‘stave up’的形容词形式。“stave”指可以用来做木桶的板子，而Cratis D. Williams则在《南部山区的语言》（Southern Mountain Speech）一书中说，“stave”还可以表示碎片、碎了——很显然我的独特表达就 It gives me hope that the expression is found in the youth-oriented Urban Dictionary, so it might yet survive.

后来我在《青年城市字典》中找到了这个表达，这给了我希望，这个词还是有人在使用的。

All of this may seem academic, but it shows that language is a mirror on life and a way to examine culture and history. Also, it’s comforting that my wife -- raised in a similar environment, influenced by her grandmother and great-grandmother -- understands when I say I’m stove-up.