核心畫面

Picture a short list of the very worst things, kept apart from all the ordinary ones. Not every wrong goes on it; the list is small, and being on it is the point. Christian teaching drew such a list, and those are the cardinal sins. Now take the same shape into an office, a kitchen or a team: one short list, everyone there knows it, and onto it costs you respect at once. No law is broken — but in that room, it is the worst thing you could do.

可以想成一份很短的清單,上面只列最嚴重的那幾件事,跟其他一般的錯誤分開放。不是每個錯都上得了這份清單,清單很短,能上更多收起可以想成一份很短的清單,上面只列最嚴重的那幾件事,跟其他一般的錯誤分開放。不是每個錯都上得了這份清單,清單很短,能上榜本身就是重點。基督教的說法裡就有這樣一份,上面的就是 cardinal sins。再把同一個形狀搬進辦公室、廚房或球隊:一樣是很短的一份,圈子裡的人都知道,踩上去別人對你的評價馬上掉。沒有犯法,但在那個場合,那就是最不能做的事。

Two branches

宗教上的那份清單

這是清單本來的出處,日常的用法是從這裡借過去的。

noun · C1

In Christian teaching, one of the most serious sins — one of the small named group also called the deadly sins.

(基督教)重罪;死罪之一

圈子裡的那條線

字典把這個用法標為「延伸用法」:清單的形狀原封不動搬過來,只是改由這一行的人來決定上面寫什麼。

noun · C1

Something so bad or so stupid that in a particular job, group or activity you must never do it — not against the law, just the one thing everyone there agrees you do not do.

大忌