Birds and Fowls

物以類聚,禽鳥喜歡聯群結隊,英語的集體名詞(collective nouns)林林種種,除了 "group" 之外,古怪的叫法很多,英語程度高深的外藉人士才通䁱,例如:a flight or flock of birds; a murder of crows; a parliament of owls; a company of parrots; a bevy of doves; a brood of turkeys 等。
Birds 有三大類別:birds of prey, seabirds and ground birds。Birds of prey(猛禽)是 birds that kill for food,有 eagle, falcon, hawk, owl 等;seabirds(水鳥)有 duck, seagull, pelican, puffin 等;主要的 ground birds 有 hen, goose, partridge, pheasant, quail, turkey 等。
 
物以類聚,禽鳥喜歡聯群結隊,英語的集體名詞(collective nouns)林林種種,除了 “group” 之外,古怪的叫法很多,英語程度高深的外籍人士才通䁱(one of the craziest oddities of the English language is that there are so many different collective nouns that all mean “group”),例如:a flight or flock of birds; a murder of crows; a parliament of owls; a company of parrots; a bevy of doves; a brood of turkeys 等。
 
鳥的成語特別多,單是 birds 的組合,已經有不少:
 
Birds of a feather(兩個或更多的人,多方面很相似):Birds of a feather flock together(物以類聚, 志趣相投)
To kill two birds with one stone(一石二鳥,一箭雙雕,一舉兩得)
The early bird catches the worm(捷足先登, 想成功做好某件事,便要盡快起步。)
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush(一鳥在手,勝過雙鳥在林:得到手的才靠住,滿足於現有的,總好過因過份追求更多,而失去一切)
Fine feathers make fine birds(人要衣裝,佛要金裝)
 
野生的雞、火雞、鴨、鵝等,以前稱 fowl,屬於家禽則稱為 poultry。今天两者互通,分別不大。(Fowl today also refers to domesticated birds such as chicken, duck, goose, and turkey. Fowl can be “fowl” or “fowls” to denote the plural form. Poultry are birds such as chickens and ducks that are kept in farms in order to produce eggs and meat.)Dress a fowl 就是主婦把家禽去毛開膛等待烹調,今天買冰鮮急凍雞鴨,一切已經處理好了。
 
公雞是 cock 或 rooster,母雞是 hen,小公雞則是 cockerel,未成熟即閹過的公雞叫 capon。
 
公雞早上啼叫報曉稱 crow,喔咯喔咯的啼聲是 cock-a doodle-doo。母雞咯咯地叫是 cackle(making a loud high sound)。小雞吱吱地叫是 cheep(making a weak high noise), 例如:chicks cheeping for food。鴨子嘎嘎叫:ducks quack; 鵝叫聲:geese honk。
 
A cock and bull story(無稽之談)
go off half-cocked(表示未有準備好,或者未有小心安排一切便開始,於是效果欠佳。例如開槍時未有瞄準就發射,只有浪費彈藥。)
like a headless chicken(小雞頭被人斬下後四處奔跑,可以有情況失控,雜亂無章,不冷靜,不合邏輯等多重意思)
chicken feed(一筆微不足道的金錢,一件雞毛蒜皮的小事)
the chickens come home to roost(自食惡果)
don’t count your chicken before they hatch(不肯定事情怎樣發展下去,或者不應該太早制定末來大計)
 
鴨子與其他家禽的差異是趾上有蹼(web),而且喙(bill)扁平又寬大。公鴨叫 drake:playing ducks and drakes 表示給予別人很差勁的待遇,對他們不誠實,或者根本漠視他們,成語源自打水漂遊戲(a game of bouncing flat stones over water),所以有 to play fast and loose 的意思。 
 
a sitting duck is an easy target(容易成為對手攻擊或批評目標的人)
a dead duck is someone who is a failure(失敗的人)
a lame duck is someone with little power or who is in a very weak position and needs support(居於弱勢地位,非常需要人家支援的某人;或少具實權的人 , 例如職權期限己接近尾聲的政客或政府):A second-term American president is often called a lame duck president.
like water off a duck’s back means no effect(水過鴨背,毫無作用)
to take to it like a duck to water(易如反掌,很容易做好某件事)
 
雌鵝是 goose,公鵝是 gander;what’s sauce to the goose is sauce for the gander(一視同仁 , 所有人都受到公平與公正的對待)
take a gander at something(看一眼)
goose pimples or goose bumps(由於寒冷、恐懼、或激動引起的雞皮疙瘩)
a wild goose chase(由於線索誤導,空辛苦一場的尋找)
you cook your goose(你幹了毀掉成功機會的事情)
kill the goose that lays the golden eggs(殺掉會生金蛋的鵝,即殺雞取卵,竭澤而漁,自絕財源)
 
I was racing around like a headless chicken——inside my head I was, anyway, as I’m sitting at my desk.
 
本專欄逢周二、五刊登
 

文世昌