喜樂美語

核心畫面

One way to hold it: you take a and wait for something to happen — salt, sour, heat, anything — and nothing comes. That same waiting-for-an-edge-that-never-arrives is what the word does to a room, a remark, or a person.

入口之後什麼都沒發生。一匙湯送進嘴裡，你等著鹹、等著酸、等著任何一個能讓舌頭醒過來的東西——結果只有溫溫的一片，過去…更多收起入口之後什麼都沒發生。一匙湯送進嘴裡，你等著鹹、等著酸、等著任何一個能讓舌頭醒過來的東西——結果只有溫溫的一片，過去了。這個「該有的刺激沒有出現」不只用在舌頭上：一段話、一個地方、一個人，同樣可以讓你等了一下，然後發現沒有稜角、沒有立場、沒有任何會留下印象的東西。

From the word’s history

The adjective comes from Latin blandus "pleasant, smooth" — originally a compliment. The modern sting ("so inoffensive it's dull") grew out of that smoothness rather than replacing it.

英語的形容詞 bland 借自拉丁文 blandus，原意是「討人喜歡的、柔和的」。這條線索能解釋一件事：這個字本來沒有貶意，是從「不刺激、不冒犯」慢慢滑到現代的「太不刺激，所以無趣」——它的負面味道是後來才長出來的，底下那層「平順、不衝撞」始終還在。（拼法相同的另一支來自古英語 blandan「混合」，屬於不同的詞源分支，與此處的形容詞無關。）

Wiktionary, "bland" (borrowed from Latin blandus "pleasant")

One branch

該有的味道與稜角都沒出現

兩個意思其實是同一個判斷用在兩種對象上：舌頭上的空白，和印象上的空白。

flavorless food · adjective · C2

Used about food that has very little taste.

無味

原始詞典資料14 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

Blandname

  • 1

    A surname.

  • 2

    A small city in Gasconade County and Osage County, Missouri, United States.

  • 3

    A census-designated place, the county seat of Bland County, Virginia, United States.

  • 4

    A local government area (Bland Shire) in the Riverina region, New South Wales, Australia.

  • 5

    A locality in the Bland council area, central New South Wales, Australia.

blandadj詞源 1/blænd/

  • 1

    Having a soothing effect; not irritating or stimulating.

    • a bland oil
    • a bland diet
  • 2

    Lacking in taste or flavor.

    • The coffee was bland.
  • 3

    Lacking in vigor.

    • First and foremost, alternative country artists generally claim to reject mainstream country music as musically indistinguishable from bland pop music, as lyrically superficial, and as having no artistic merit […]
  • 4

    Lacking interest; boring; dull.

    • bland comment
    • He's reading Balzac and knocking back Prozac / It's a helping hand that makes you feel wonderfully bland
  • 5

    archaicMild; soft, gentle, balmy; smooth in manner; suave.

    • Where didst thou find, young Bard, thy sounding lyre? / Where the bland accent, and the tender tone?
    • “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;[…]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

blandverb詞源 2/blænd/

  • 1

    dialectalTo mix; blend; mingle.

  • 2

    dialectalTo connect; associate.

blandnoun詞源 3/blænd/

  • 1

    dialectalMixture; union.

  • 2

    A summer beverage prepared from the whey of churned milk, common among the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands.

資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。