核心畫面

One way to hold this word: marks with gaps between them. Spot plus -y means covered in spots, and the important part is not the spots — it is the empty space around them. Something here, nothing there, something again further on. That pattern is on a moth's wing and on a teenager's face, and it is also what a weak phone signal looks like on a map: a patch that works, a patch that does not.

可以想成「一點一點,中間有空隙」。spot 是點,-y 是滿是;不過真正的重點不在點本身,而在點跟點之間的空白。這裡更多收起可以想成「一點一點,中間有空隙」。spot 是點,-y 是滿是;不過真正的重點不在點本身,而在點跟點之間的空白。這裡有、那裡沒有、再過去又有。這個分布長在蛾的翅膀上、長在少年的臉上,也長在手機訊號的地圖上——有一塊通、有一塊不通。所以從「有斑點」到「時好時壞」,其實是同一張圖。

From the word’s history

From Middle English spotty: the noun spot plus the ending -y, meaning covered in spots.

這個字從中古英文就有了,結構是 spot(點、斑)加上字尾 -y(滿是……的),字面就是「布滿斑點的」。

Wiktionary etymology for spotty supplied in evidence packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1095126621): From Middle English spotty, equivalent to spot + -y.

Two branches

表面上真的有斑點

這一支就是核心畫面本身,看得見、摸得到。

adjective · B2

Covered with spots — small round marks of a different colour — on an animal's coat, a leaf, a piece of cloth, or any other surface.

有斑點的

有的地方有、有的地方沒有

把斑點的分布搬到品質和表現上:不是整片壞,而是有一塊好、有一塊空。

adjective · B2

Good in some parts but not in others, so you cannot count on it — used about quality, about how well something works, and about how evenly something is spread out.

時好時壞;不穩定