核心畫面

One way to hold corkscrew: a piece of metal wound round and round like a spring, which only grips when you turn it and only moves forward while it turns. Everything else the word does is that one piece of metal handed over to something else — its shape to hair and staircases, its motion to planes, smoke and mountain roads.

可以想成:一段像彈簧那樣一圈一圈捲起來的金屬,它要轉才咬得住,而且是一邊轉一邊往前進。這個字其他的用法,就像是把這段更多收起可以想成:一段像彈簧那樣一圈一圈捲起來的金屬,它要轉才咬得住,而且是一邊轉一邊往前進。這個字其他的用法,就像是把這段金屬交給別的東西——把形狀交給頭髮和樓梯,把動作交給飛機、煙和盤山的路。

From the word’s history

From cork + screw, so the name is literally the screw you use on a cork.

這個字由 cork(軟木塞)和 screw(螺絲)組成,字面上就是「對付軟木塞的那根螺絲」。名字直接寫出了工具的長相,所以後來借去形容捲髮、旋轉樓梯和盤旋的動作時,讀者一聽就懂。

Wiktionary entries for corkscrew (noun, adj, verb), supplied in this packet: 'From cork + screw.'

Two branches

那把工具

這一族就是核心畫面本身:實際握在手上的那把工具。

noun · B2

A small tool for pulling the cork out of a bottle. The working part is a piece of metal twisted round and round like a spring; you turn it down into the cork and then pull the cork straight up.

(螺旋式)開瓶器

把形狀借出去

把核心畫面裡「捲得很緊、沿著一條線繞下去」這一點單獨抽出來,擺到名詞前面。

adjective · C1

Twisted or curled round and round in tight rings, in the shape of the metal part of a corkscrew.

螺旋狀的;捲得很緊的