核心畫面

A take-off is a moment, not a journey. Something that was resting on the ground stops touching it — wheels lift off the runway, feet lift off the track — and from that instant it is in the air. The word freezes that single instant, which is why we can say the take-off was smooth or too early: you are judging one point in time, not the whole flight or the whole jump.

「take-off」抓的是一個瞬間,不是一段過程。原本壓在地上的東西,突然不再碰到地面——輪子離開跑道,腳離開跑道—更多收起「take-off」抓的是一個瞬間,不是一段過程。原本壓在地上的東西,突然不再碰到地面——輪子離開跑道,腳離開跑道——從那一下起,它就在空中了。這個字把那一個瞬間定格下來。所以我們可以說 the take-off was smooth 或 too early:在評的是那一個時間點,不是整趟飛行、也不是整個跳躍。這個名詞是直接把動詞片語 take off 拿來用的,所以離地的畫面被完整保留了下來。

From the word’s history

The noun is deverbal from the phrasal verb take off, so it keeps the verb's picture of leaving the ground.

這個名詞是從動詞片語 take off 直接轉過來的(來源記為 deverbal),所以「離開地面」的畫面原封不動地留在名詞裡。

Wiktionary entry for take-off, etymology_text: "Deverbal from take off." (supplied in this packet)

Two branches

離地的那一下

這一家就是核心畫面本身。差別只在離地的是什麼:飛機的輪子,還是人的腳。

noun · B1

The moment when a plane leaves the ground and starts to fly, and the short period of time around that moment.

起飛

把某人的樣子學過來演

這一家不要硬掛在「離地」上。它同樣來自 take off,但走的是「模仿某人」那個用法,和起飛是兩條不同的線。

noun · C1

A funny performance in which someone copies the way a well-known person speaks, moves or behaves, so that other people laugh.

模仿秀