喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can hold gutter as one picture: a long, narrow, open channel running along the edge of something, put there so that water can leave. It is never in the middle. It sits at the border, lower than the surface beside it, and it takes away what that surface does not want — the rain, and with the rain the leaves and the dirt. Two things grow out of that picture and cover almost every use of the word. First, place: whatever is at the edge and lower than everything else is in the gutter, and that becomes a way of talking about the bottom of a society and about the coarsest kind of talk. Second, shape: any long narrow strip lying between two things can borrow the name, even when nothing runs in it at all — the channel beside a bowling lane, the white band between two columns of print.

「gutter」可以想成一條開口的窄溝，沿著邊緣走。它不在正中央。它在邊上，比旁邊的平面低。它的工作是把水帶走。水走…更多收起「gutter」可以想成一條開口的窄溝，沿著邊緣走。它不在正中央。它在邊上，比旁邊的平面低。它的工作是把水帶走。水走的時候，落葉和髒東西也一起走。順著這個畫面，兩條線就長出來了，幾乎涵蓋所有用法。第一條是位置：在邊上、又最低的地方，就是 the gutter，於是可以拿來講社會的最底層，也可以拿來講最粗俗的話。第二條是形狀：兩樣東西之間那條細長的凹槽或空白，也借用同一個名字，就算裡面根本沒有水——保齡球道兩側的溝、兩欄文字之間的白條，都是這樣來的。

From the word’s history

The word comes through Old French goutiere from Latin gutta, meaning a drop of liquid. So the oldest idea in it is where the drops go, which is exactly what a road gutter and a roof gutter are for.

這個字經由古法文 goutiere，往上來自拉丁文 gutta，意思是「一滴（液體）」。所以它最早的念頭就是「水滴往哪裡走」。路邊的溝和屋簷的槽，正好都在做這件事，字源和今天的核心畫面接得起來。

Wiktionary entry for gutter, supplied in this packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:812322152): Middle English gutter, from Anglo-Norman guttere, Old French goutiere, ultimately Latin gutta 'drop'.

Four branches

把水帶走的窄溝

這一組就是核心畫面本身：一條在邊上、比旁邊低的開口窄溝，功能是排水。位置從馬路邊換到屋簷邊，東西沒有變。

noun · B1

The low channel along the edge of a road, next to the curb, where rainwater collects and runs away, and where dirt and litter often end up.

路邊排水溝

兩塊東西之間的細長空白

這一支只留下形狀，不留下水。核心畫面裡的「細長、夾在邊上、不屬於兩邊任何一方」被單獨拿出來用。

noun · C1

In printing and page design, the blank strip of space that separates two columns of text, two comic panels, or two rows of stamps on a sheet.

版面之間的空白條

最底層、最粗俗的地帶

核心畫面裡「在邊上、最低、髒東西集中」的那一面被拿來講人和話。溝不再排水，而是變成一個位置的名字。

noun · C1

The gutter, used in this way, means the worst and poorest conditions a society has — no money, no home and no standing — the level people are talking about when they say someone rose from the gutter or ended up in the gutter.

社會最底層

蠟順著邊往下流的燭火

動詞這一支回到最原始的「一滴一滴往下流」：蠟燭融化時，蠟會沿著側邊流成一道道細溝，同時火苗抖動快熄。

verb · C2

If a candle or a flame gutters, it burns unsteadily — the flame shakes, drops low and looks as if it is about to go out — and melted wax often runs down the side of the candle.

（燭火）搖曳將滅

原始詞典資料23 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。

Guttername

  • 1

    A surname.

gutternoun詞源 1/ˈɡʌt.ə/

  • 1

    A prepared channel in a surface, especially at the side of a road adjacent to a curb, intended for the drainage of water.

    • They a not so clean as they might be, since the water [is] carried off by only one gutter, in the centre of t[he] street
  • 2

    A ditch along the side of a road.

    • In nearly all of the towns the gutters are filled with vegetation, or have been neglected for so long a time that the roadway becomes its own drainage bed.
    • ‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared.[…]’
  • 3

    A duct or channel beneath the eaves of a building to carry rain water; eavestrough.

    • The gutters must be cleared of leaves a few times a year.
  • 4

    bowlinghobbieslifestyleA groove down the sides of a bowling lane.

    • You can decide to use the bumpers to avoid the ball going down the gutter every time.
  • 5

    A large groove (commonly behind animals) in a barn used for the collection and removal of animal excrement.

  • 6

    Any narrow channel or groove, such as one formed by erosion in the vent of a gun from repeated firing.

  • 7

    mediapublishingtypographyA space between printed columns of text.

  • 8

    mediaprintingpublishingOne of a number of pieces of wood or metal, grooved in the centre, used to separate the pages of type in a form.

另外 5 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    hobbieslifestylephilatelyAn unprinted space between rows of stamps.

  • 10

    A drainage channel.

  • 11

    The notional locus of things, acts, or events that are distasteful, ill-bred, or morally questionable.

    • Nosei (Löwensohn): This is Tom and Cynthia Kruger. / Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright): I heard. / Nosei: This is Jean-Michel Basquiat. / Tom Kruger (Chuck Pfeiffer): Hi. / Nosei: You've seen the SAMO graffiti everywhere – that's his. This is the true voice of the gutter.
  • 12

    A low, vulgar state.

    • Get your mind out of the gutter.
    • What kind of gutter language is that? I ought to wash your mouth out with soap.
  • 13

    comicsliteraturemediaA space between comic strip panels.

gutterverb詞源 1/ˈɡʌt.ə/

  • 1

    To flow or stream; to form gutters.

  • 2

    To melt away by having the molten wax run down along the side of the candle.

  • 3

    To flicker as if about to be extinguished.

    • The light in his eyes guttered like a candle in a mighty wind and finally went out. She had no time to grieve[…]
    • Alex's eyes gutter, and his face goes cold. He stands there mutely through my apology, stiff and frozen. I want to touch him, but I'm scared he'll flinch away.
  • 4

    To send (a bowling ball) into the gutter, not hitting any pins.

  • 5

    To supply with a gutter or gutters.

    • A narrow flooring, guttered, walled, and tiled.
  • 6

    To cut or form into small longitudinal hollows; to channel.

    • The gutter'd-Rockes, and Congregated Sands,
  • 7

    To worsen considerably.

    • The students' performance guttered after the school event.
    • The patient's state would soon gutter.

gutteradj詞源 1/ˈɡʌt.ə/

  • 1

    derogatoryinformalVulgar, sordid, or low-class.

    • The "greatest" controversy came when Farrakhan was accused of calling Judaism a "gutter religion". Farrakhan says he never used the word "gutter."

gutternoun詞源 2/ˈɡʌt.ə/

  • 1

    One who or that which guts.

    • A Galilean Rabbi? When did this Province of diggers in dirt and gutters of fish send forth Rabbis? Thou makest a jest.
    • An old, rusty coat hanger made a rudimentary fish-gutter.

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。