核心畫面

One way to hold blowback: you push something out with force, and part of it does not go where you aimed. It comes straight back at the hand that sent it. The word names that returning part, whether it is burnt powder on a sleeve or the anger that lands on the people who made a decision.

可以想成:你用力把某個東西送出去,但有一部分沒有照你的方向走,而是直直回噴到出手的那隻手上。blowback 指的就更多收起可以想成:你用力把某個東西送出去,但有一部分沒有照你的方向走,而是直直回噴到出手的那隻手上。blowback 指的就是回來的那一部分——可能是落在袖子上的火藥,也可能是打回決策者身上的怒氣。

From the word’s history

A deverbal noun from the phrasal verb blow back, so the word literally names 'the thing that is blown back'.

這個字是從動詞片語 blow back(往回吹)直接變成的名詞,字面上就是「被吹回來的東西」。兩個意思都還緊貼著這個字面:一個是真的被吹回來的火藥,一個是被吹回來的後果。

Wiktionary entry for blowback, supplied in this packet: 'Deverbal from blow back.'

Two branches

真的回噴的東西

這一族就是核心畫面的實體版本:看得見、摸得到、驗得出來的回噴物。

noun · C1

The powder and hot gas that come back out of a gun at the moment it is fired, and that can settle on the hand, sleeve or clothes of the person holding it.

(開槍時)回噴的火藥

回頭打到自己的後果

把核心畫面從火藥換成後果:你做的決定像射出去的一發,其中一部分沒有往外,而是回頭落在自己身上。

noun · C1

A bad result of an action that the people who took it did not want or expect, which comes back and harms them or the people they were trying to help. It is used most often about government decisions, company decisions, and plans that were kept secret.

反噬;反彈