每日英语第350期：牛肉为什么抱怨？

今天我们聊的这个词谁都认识：beef 牛肉。但我们要讲是另一个有趣的意思。

美国英语中有这样的说法：

例如，A刚跟别人吵了一架，B看到了问A：What's the beef? 

什么意思？——意思是what's the problem? What's going on? 怎么回事？发生什么事了？

在这个用法中，beef的意思是“抱怨”，类似于a conflict, complaint, grudge的意思。大家在初学beef这个词的时候很少会注意到这层意思。

再来看个场景。

A刚从老板办公室出来，一脸不高兴，嘴里嘟嘟囔囔地显得很不高兴。你问A：What's the beef? 这时候意思就相当于问Why are you complaining? What are you complaining about?

同样，这里的beef也是complaint的意思。

同样的意思，美国英语中还有一个习惯说法：have a beef with (someone or something)

意思是To have an outstanding or unsettled dispute or disagreement with someone or something. 

例句：

Why does she have a beef with me? I'm always nice to her! 她为什么对我不满？我一直对她很好啊！

注意：在上面这两种形式中，beef前面都要有冠词“a". 

表示“抱怨”这个意思时，beef还可以作动词。

If someone beefs about something, they keep complaining about it.

例句：

He is always beefing about his working conditions. 他一直在抱怨他的工作状况。

有些读者肯定有疑问了，为什么beef是抱怨呢？为什么选beef这个词呢？Why beef?

这个问题好复杂。英美的专业人士也讲不清楚。beef的这个词源有好多种说法。最简单的一个说法是源于早期的美国军队。士兵们总抱怨牛排不好吃，所以后来美国英语中beef就有了这个意思。

你可以简单地这样理解，但如果认真研究beef的词源，不是一篇小文章能写完的。下面三种说法供大家参考：

The phrase “I have a beef with you” originated in the old west among sheep farmers who were competing for grazing land with cattle farmers. The sheep farmers used the term with each other to refer to a conflict, which was what they had with the cattle farmers, or “beef” farmers (answers.com)

Having to do with the ownership of cows and “cow feuds” which resulted as owners argued over the best interests of the cow and typically the cow got slaughtered and led to owners having “beef” with one another (10poundhammer blog)

First appearing in the U.S. during the late 1800s, “beef” describes a situation or complaint that might well escalate into a “beefy” muscular conflict (Word Detective)

（以上三种解释转自：https://makingheadsortailsofidioms.com/2014/10/06/whats-the-beef/）