看得見的扭曲：木頭與手
這一組是核心畫面本身，還沒有任何比喻：真的有結、真的彎、真的摸得到。
adjective · C1
Rough, twisted and covered in hard lumps — used about a tree, a branch or a root that has grown bent and knotted over many years.
多節瘤的；粗糙扭曲的
核心畫面
One way to hold this word: a knot in old wood. Where the grain of a tree twists back on itself, it leaves a hard lump — a gnarl. Gnarly is what a thing looks like when it is full of them: bent out of line, rough to the hand, and impossible to cut straight through. Every other use of the word is that lump moved somewhere else. Onto a pair of old working hands. Onto a problem you cannot start at one end of. Onto a wave that could knock you over. And, because a thing like that is and thrilling in the same moment, onto anything you want to call extreme — terrible or magnificent.
可以想成：一塊老木頭上的節瘤。木紋自己繞回來的地方，會留下一個硬塊，那就是 gnarl。滿是這種硬塊的東西，就是 g…更多收起
可以想成：一塊老木頭上的節瘤。木紋自己繞回來的地方，會留下一個硬塊，那就是 gnarl。滿是這種硬塊的東西，就是 gnarly：方向歪掉、摸起來不平、刀子切不出直線。這個字後來的每一種用法，都可以看成是把那個硬塊搬到別的地方。搬到一雙做了幾十年粗活的手上。搬到一個找不到入口的難題上。搬到一道會把人打翻的大浪上。而因為那樣的東西同時讓人怕又讓人興奮，它最後也被用來喊任何極端的事——超糟的，或超猛的。From the word’s history
From gnarl, the knot in a piece of wood, plus -y: literally 'full of knots'. The slang uses were popularised by US surf culture in the 1970s, which is how a word about wood came to be shouted at waves.
由 gnarl（木頭上的節瘤）加上 -y 構成，字面就是「滿是節瘤的」。來源指出那些俚語用法是 1970 年代美國衝浪文化帶紅的，這也解釋了一個原本講木頭的字，後來怎麼會被拿去對著大浪喊。
Wiktionary 'gnarly' etymology, supplied in the evidence packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:742505852:9741)
Three branches
纏成一團，所以難搞
從「木頭切不出直線」推出去：事情纏成一團，也就沒有一條直路可以走。這一步還在講性質，還沒開始罵人或稱讚。
adjective · C1
Difficult and dangerous in a tangled way, so that getting through it takes real skill, patience or nerve — used about waves, trails, weather and hard problems.
難搞的；險惡的
喊出來的評價：超糟／超猛
最後一步把「難搞」整個變成情緒。字不再描述形狀，只負責標出強度，而方向由現場決定。
adjective · C1
Very bad, nasty or unpleasant — used about something that looks, smells or feels disgusting.
很糟；很噁