喜樂美語

核心畫面

One way to hold this word: a that everyone is watching, lit, waiting — and nothing happens. The thing had one job, the moment came, and it stayed silent. Everything dud does grows out of that silence after the expectation.

dud 可以想成一支已經點著的煙火。大家都抬頭等著，火花走到底，然後什麼都沒發生。那個東西只有一個任務，時間到了，它…更多收起dud 可以想成一支已經點著的煙火。大家都抬頭等著，火花走到底，然後什麼都沒發生。那個東西只有一個任務，時間到了，它卻安安靜靜。dud 的各種用法，就像都從「期待之後的那陣沉默」長出來的。

From the word’s history

The source traces dud to Middle English dudde, a cloak or ragged cloth, with related Old Norse and Low German words for wrapping cloth. That line reaches the clothes use directly; the source does not say how the failure use came about.

資料把 dud 追到中古英語 dudde（斗篷、破布），並連到古諾斯語 dúði（襁褓布）。這條線直接通到 duds（衣服）那一支。至於「啞掉的東西」是怎麼來的，資料沒有交代，所以這裡不當成已知。

Wiktionary 'dud' etymology (packet source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:293725158)

Three branches

該動卻沒動的東西

最靠近核心畫面的一支：東西本身沒壞得很誇張，它只是沒有發生作用。

noun · B2

Something that fails to work at all, or fails to do the job it was made for, so it is no use to you.

啞彈；沒用的東西

讓人失望的人或事

從實體東西移到經驗上：不是機器不動，而是一件被看好的事情沒有兌現。

noun · B2

A person or thing that turns out to be a failure or a real disappointment, although people expected them to be good.

失敗的人事物

duds＝衣服

這一支跟「沒作用」不是同一條路，硬要接回核心畫面反而會編故事。

noun · C1

Duds means clothes. It is only used in the plural, and it sounds casual and old-fashioned, the way an older relative might talk.

衣服（複數）

原始詞典資料6 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。

dudnoun/dʌd/

  • 1

    informalA device or machine that is useless because it does not work properly or has failed to work, such as a bomb, or explosive projectile.

    • The only amusing highlight was Gudgeon having managed to exploit U.S. codebreaking efforts to ambush and destroy the submarine I-173, albeit not for the lack of the Mark 14's trying to sabotage the effort, as the torpedo that had hit the sub had refused to detonate; it seemed, however, that the car-crash levels of kinetic energy involved in the dud simply ramming the sub had nonetheless done enough to fatally damage it.
    • Alzheimer's Drug Aduhelm Went From Being Hailed A 'Game Changer' To A Dud
  • 2

    informalA failure of any kind.

    • At the end of the day, the vast majority of primary schools are vibrant, friendly places and you may struggle to choose one because they all seem so great. Primary schools tend to have the feelgood factor. If you just aren't feeling it, this one's probably a dud.
  • 3

    informalA failure of any kind.

    • "Now you can't fool me. Tom, I'm not one o' those duds that pay you a thick 'un for an hour in the dark."
  • 4

    informalA failure of any kind.

  • 5

    obsoleteinformalClothes, now always used in plural form duds.

dudadj/dʌd/

  • 1

    Useless; failing; ineffective.

    • […] they're flying in the duddest of dud weather to hold the Germans back.

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。