真正的後街，和那裡的生活
這一支就是核心畫面本身：大馬路後面那一排小街，以及住在那裡、開在那裡的人和店。
noun · B2
A small, quiet street set back from the main part of a town, away from the big roads and the busy shops.
後街；巷弄
核心畫面
A town has a front and a back. The front is the main road: buses, lit signs, shops that want to be seen. Walk one row behind it and you are on the backstreets, narrow and quiet, with houses, small workshops and washing hung across the lane. Hold that one step behind the main road, because every use of this word is standing there. Say it of a place and you get the old, cheap, unshowy part of town. Say it of the people and you get who lives there. And say it of work, and the same position turns hard: whatever is done back here is done out of sight of the people who check.
一個城鎮有正面和背面。正面是大馬路：公車、亮招牌、想被看見的店。往後走一排，就是後街，窄窄的、安靜的，有住家、小工廠…更多收起
一個城鎮有正面和背面。正面是大馬路：公車、亮招牌、想被看見的店。往後走一排，就是後街，窄窄的、安靜的，有住家、小工廠、橫在巷子上的衣服。記住「在大馬路後面一排」這個位置，因為這個字每一個用法都站在那裡。講地方，就是舊的、便宜的、不張揚的那一區。講人，就是住在那裡的人。講做事，同一個位置就變硬了：在這裡做的事，是檢查的人看不到的事。From the word’s history
The source gives it plainly: back plus street.
來源資料只寫一句：backstreet 就是 back 加 street。字面上就是「後面的街」，而這個字所有的意思都還黏在這個位置上。
packet evidence: Wiktionary etymology_text for backstreet, adjective and noun entries (source_refs kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1536153282:3158 and :1536156440:680) — 'From back + street.'
Two branches
躲在後街做的事
同一個位置，鏡頭從「那裡住著誰」轉到「那裡在做什麼」。大馬路上的事做給人看，後街的事躲著做，這個字的重意思就從這個差別長出來。
adjective · C1
Done in secret because it is not allowed, usually by people without the proper training and in a place that is not fit for it, so the work is often bad or unsafe.
私下違法的；黑的