“Hi, Folks.”

Liesl Schillinger

Thirty- five years ago, when the late wordsmith William Sa fire—a former Nixon speechwriter,and the coiner of the phrase “nattering nabobs of negativism”—began writing “On Language,” aNew York Times Magazinecolumn about the changing currents of American speech, he opened with the simple salutation “How do you do.”1(Note the lack of question mark, which was his initial, throat-clearing point.)2In homage I had wanted to begin this column, “News of the Word,” with the phrase; but in intervening decades,the expression “How do you do” has fallen out of favor,replaced by the more perfunctory “Nice to meet you,” or the slangy “How yadoin’?” or “How’s it goin’?”3If you are determined to hear someone say “How do you do,”your best bet is to watch the filmMy Fair Lady—in which Audrey Hepburn (as Eliza Doolittle) says it repeatedly,with a mannered flourish.4These days, though, there is no longer one de rigueur stock phrase of introduction.5And so, I’ll just begin, “Hi, folks.”

Question: What do I mean by “folks”?

The word “folks” used to have a bonhomous,backslapping, affectionate quality in this country;“folks” were ordinary people like you and me, whom we recognized as familiar, or even familial.6One entry in my desksideAmerican Heritage Dictionary7. American Heritage Dictionary：《美国传统词典》，是美国国内非常有影响和权威性的词典之一。de fines “folks”as: “The members of one’s family or childhood household;relatives”. Another explains that, once the word “folks” moves beyond that narrow circle, it tends to latch on to a descriptive phrase—rich folks, poor folks, black folks, white folks, “old folks, just plain folks, country folks”—to specify the particular type of folksiness implied.8. entry： 词条；latch on to： 理解为；folksiness： 友善，平易近人。Lately, though, the usage of this word has been shifting, and the change has come from the White House—transforming the “folks” of yesteryear into a complex and alien entourage whom you’d be unhappy to bump into at a backyard barbecue.9. yesteryear： 近年，不久以前；alien：异己的，不相容的；entourage： 随行人员；bump into： 碰见，遇见。

威廉·萨菲尔

有时候，流行语的使用可以映射一个时代的特征。曾在美国历史上广为流行、甚至助力克林顿赢得大选的“伙计”一词，如今何以演化成了恐怖分子、暴乱者、非正义的代名词？曾经象征着彬彬有礼、风度翩翩的“绅士”一词如今怎么充满了讽刺味道？

In September, 2014, when President Obama sat with the reporter Steve Kroft of “60 Minutes“ to discuss the terrorist groups ISIS (which he calls ISIL) and Khorasan,10. ISIS： 伊拉克和大叙利亚伊斯兰国（Islamic State of Iraq and al Shams，缩写为ISIS），活跃在伊拉克和叙利亚的一个极端恐怖组织，又被称作ISIL；Khorasan： 指叙利亚境内强硬派团体呼罗珊。he warned that “those folks could kill Americans” and urged “Arab and Muslim leaders to say very clearly, ‘These folks do not represent us.’” Another group of folks, the Syrian rebel fighters whom the United States had decided not to arm, early in that country’s civil war, seemed to elicit more fellow feeling,though President Obama refuted the “mythology” that “if we had given those folks some guns two and a half years ago, that Syria would be fine.”11. 在叙利亚内战早期，另外一群“家伙”——美国决定不予以武装支持的叙利亚反对派——仿佛引起了更多同感，尽管奥巴马总统驳回了“如果两年半前我们为这些家伙提供枪支，叙利亚可能会好起来”的观点。arm： v. 武装；elicit： 引起，引出；fellow feeling： 同感；refute： 反驳，驳斥；mythology： （没有事实根据的）虚构信念或观点。Back in August, the President had regretted the excesses of the CIA toward yet another group in the aftermath of 9/11, when he said, “We tortured some folks”.12. excess：（常用作复数）过分的行为；CIA： 中央情报局；aftermath：（事件）结束后的一个时期；torture： 折磨，拷问。While, several years before, he had denounced domestic fearmongers who demonized his healthcare plan,because “some of the same folks who are spreading these tall tales have fought against Medicare in the past.”13. denounce： 谴责，声讨；fearmonger：散布恐惧的人；demonize： 妖魔化，使……变为魔鬼；tall tale： 吹牛的话，夸张的故事；Medicare： 美国老年人医疗保险制度。The“folks” President Obama speaks of often have a negative or alien aura14. aura： 气氛，气味。, a quality of “them,” not “us.” They are terrorists or armed militants, hard-hearted ideologues or benighted unfortunates.15. ideologue： 空想家，理论家；benighted：愚昧的；unfortunate： 不幸的人。This is new.

When President Clinton used the word “folks” in the’90s, during State of the Union addresses, stump speeches,and NAFTA talks, he did so in the time-honored, colloquial manner, making “folks” synonymous with “people” but more personal;16. State of the Union： 国情咨文；stump speech： 政治演说；NAFTA： 全称为North American Free Trade Agreement，北美自由贸易协定；time-honored： 历史悠久的，久享盛名的；colloquial： 口语体的，通俗的；synonymous with：与……同义。and that’s still how he uses the word 20 years on: to show his commonality with and sympathy for his audience. In “A Place Called Hope,” the speech in which he accepted the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1992,17. nomination： 提名；presidency： 总统职位。he suggested that all Americans were just folks: “There is no them; there is only us.” So, when I say, “Hi, folks,” I revert to18. revert to： 回归，回到。the traditional, inclusive spirit of the word; “us,” not “them.” From this group, however, I would like to exclude gentlemen, who lately have taken on a markedly ungentlemanly character.19. exclude： 排除；markedly： 明显地，显著地。

When a disturbed Iraq war veteran named Omar Gonzalez scaled the White House fence in last September and sprinted deep into the executive mansion, some journalists conferred the title of gentleman upon him.20. disturbed： 精神失常的；veteran： 老兵；scale： v. 攀登，攀爬；sprint： 冲刺，全速奔跑；executive mansion：（美国）总统官邸，白宫；confer： 授予，给予。“There’s the gentleman, you see him running across the White House lawn,” said José Díaz-Balart on MSNBC, as he relayed news of the home invasion.21. MSNBC： 微软全国广播公司，由美国全国广播公司（NBC）和微软公司联合开办，受众既可在家通过电视机收看有线电视的MSNBC节目，也可通过电脑上网获取在线MSNBC的信息；relay： 转播。Gonzalez was “the same gentleman who, twice in months prior, posed a direct threat to the White House,” wrote thePittsburgh Tribune-Review, explaining that, in last July, “after a high-speed chase, he was found with 11 guns and a map,” while in last August, he had appeared in front of 1,600 Pennsylvania Avenue with a hatchet.22. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review： 《匹兹堡先驱评论报》；Pennsylvania Avenue：宾夕法尼亚大道，华盛顿哥伦比亚特区的一条街道，连接白宫和美国国会大厦，是官方游行和民间抗议的地点，也是重要的通勤路线；hatchet：短柄小斧。The September intruder should not be confused with the Ferguson Missouri policeman Darren Wilson,23. intruder： 入侵者，闯入者；Ferguson： 弗格森（美国密苏里州的一个城市）。whose boss, Police Chief Tom Jackson,described him as “nice, respectable,and well-mannered, a gentleman”after he shot and killed an unarmed man named Michael Brown.Commentators often bemoan the decline of civility in public discourse, but the excessive rise of misplaced civility is just as good a source for consternation.24. 评论员们经常对公共话语缺少礼貌而感到惋惜，但是过度且不正当使用礼貌用语同样是造成恐慌的来源之一。bemoan： 为……惋惜；civility：礼貌，礼仪；public discourse： 公共讨论，公共话语；consternation： 惊恐，惊慌失措。

Historically, Americans have preferred to be called gentlemen,rather than simply folks, whenever possible. When Frances Trollope,mother of the British novelist Anthony Trollope, moved from England to Tennessee and Ohio in 1827, this preference was already well-established.25. 在1827年，当英国小说家安东尼·特罗洛普的母亲弗朗西斯·特罗洛普从英格兰搬到美国田纳西州和俄亥俄州时，这一偏好早已普遍有之。Anthony Trollope： 安东尼·特罗洛普，英国作家，代表作有《巴彻斯特养老院》和《巴彻斯特大教堂》等。In her scathing,humorous accounts of this country’s rough-and-ready language and customs,Domestic Manners of the Americans, which she published upon her return to England for the entertainment of her countrymen, she wrote with patronizing amusement that she found“draymen, butcher’s boys and the labourers on the canal” all were called “gentlemen” in these parts.26. scathing： 苛刻的，严厉的；rough-and-ready： 潦草的；patronizing： 高人一等的；drayman： 运货马车车夫。Her own de finition hewed closer to27. hew to： 坚持，遵守。the de finition that you’ll still find in theAmerican Heritage Dictionarytoday: “A man of gentle or noble birth or superior social position.”

We Americans have little patience for such snobbish exclusiveness.28. snobbish： 势利的；exclusiveness： 排他性，排外性。To our ears, her criticisms have an unladylike ring (though Mark Twain applauded her bile, and said, “She was merely telling the truth and this indignant nation knew it”).29. unladylike： 不淑女的；bile： 愤怒；indignant： 愤慨的。

So—should you call a menacing30. menacing： 险恶的，具有威胁性的。stranger with a hatchet, gun, or automatic weapon in his hands a gentleman? Sometimes yes, sometimes no; you can’t always be sure, but most folks will know the difference when they see it.