Cover One's Ass——開脫責任
** make excuses or devise alibis to avoid being blamed, punished, or harmed
(找藉口或託辭來避免被責備,懲罰或傷害。)
~~開脫責任;掩飾自身醜事;設法開脫罪責;編造假話;託辭;藉口;遮醜善後
~~ cover your ass (CYA) // cover one’s back (behind; rear end; tail; butt; hide) // make up, feign or invent an excuse // justify oneself
!! The 1960s slang came from "covering one's rear" in the military sense, i.e., protecting from attack that came from behind. Because of the equivalence in rear and ass colloquially, the metaphor “cover one’s ass” came to being.
(1960年代的俚語來自軍事意義上的“掩護自己的後方”,即防止來自後面的襲擊。由於後方和屁股的口語相當,因此就出現了“掩蓋屁股”的比喻。)
>> The employee found that the cash in the cash register was \$6,000 less than the sales amount. To cover her ass, she wrote that the \$6,000 was taken by her manager.
(這員工發現錢櫃的現金數目比銷售少了6,000元,她為求開脫責任,她將這6,000元寫成是經理取走的。)
>> A student was late because he forgot to set the alarm clock. In order to cover his ass, he told the teacher that it was raining heavily and there was a traffic jam, but the teacher noticed that the weather bureau recorded a zero millimeter rainfall record that day.
(一名學生因為忘記設置鬧鐘而遲到,他為了掩飾自身醜事,跟老師說出面下大雨兼大塞車,可是老師留意到氣象局當天錄得零毫米雨量記錄。)
學勤進修教育中心英語專科導師
李啟文 教授
留言