核心畫面

Start with an ordinary hat whose brim lies flat all round. Now fold that brim upwards and pin it, two folds or three, and the outline stops being a circle: it becomes a shape with corners, a triangle sitting on someone's head. That folded, cornered shape is what the name holds on to. It explains why the hat belongs to old portraits of officers and sailors, and why the same three-cornered outline keeps showing up wherever people need to name a small triangle.

先想一頂普通的帽子,帽簷整圈平放。現在把帽簷往上折起來固定住,折兩邊或三邊,輪廓就不再是圓的了——它變成一個有角的形更多收起先想一頂普通的帽子,帽簷整圈平放。現在把帽簷往上折起來固定住,折兩邊或三邊,輪廓就不再是圓的了——它變成一個有角的形狀,一個三角形頂在頭上。這個名字抓住的就是那個折起來、帶著角的樣子。它也解釋了兩件事:為什麼這頂帽子只出現在舊時代軍官和水手的畫像裡,以及為什麼後來凡是要指認一個小三角形的場合,人們都還會借用它的名字。

Two branches

折出角來的那頂帽子

核心畫面本身:帽簷折上來,形狀有了角。

noun · C1

A hat worn in the past, with the edge turned up on two or three sides so that it makes points or corners.

三角帽/翹邊帽

把對手打得不成形

從帽子的形狀借一步:被折起來、縮成一團、認不出原形。這是幫助記憶的畫面,不是說這個片語真的這樣來的。

noun · C1

If one person or thing knocks or beats another into a cocked hat, it is far better than the other one, so that comparing them is hardly worth doing.

遠遠勝過、把對方比下去