原标题:不懂就问“Not even wrong”是什么意思?
最近在浏览某平台时,发现了这样的一个问题:
起初不以为然,但一细想,“Not even wrong”虽然每个词都认识,但合起来的意思还真值得斟酌
我们先来看下百度翻译提供的答案:
似乎也意义不明?
很多网友以极其接地气的方式解释了,“not even wrong”:
“Not even wrong”
其实是著名量子物理学家
沃尔夫冈·泡利
(Wolfgang Pauli)的名句
泡利是量子力学的创始人之一,其中学就开始读爱因斯坦的相对论,高中时甚至独立完成了 3 篇关于广义相对论研究的论文,24岁时提出了不相容原理。1945年,经爱因斯坦提名,泡利因不相容原理获得诺贝尔物理学奖。
泡利在物理届是出了名的“毒舌”,那时候,许多量子物理学家认为,自己的工作要是没经过泡利当面的苛刻批评,绝不能算正式完成。要是当时泡利不在场,他们也要问一声:“泡利会怎么说?”
一次泡利的同事拿来一篇质量不高的文稿,他给出的意见是:“I do not mind if you think slowly, but I do object when you publish more quickly than you think.”
在一次报告会上,爱因斯坦回答了在场的一个提问后,泡利总结道:“You know, what Mr. Einstein said is not so stupid.”
据传泡利一位年轻物理学家向他询问修改论文意见,结果泡利直接把论文还给他说:“That's not right. It's not even wrong.”(这不对,连错都算不上。)
“Not even wrong”
后来也成了物理学界的一句内行笑话
其英文释义为:
"Not even wrong" is a phrase often used to describe pseudoscience. It describes an argument or explanation that purports to be scientific but uses faulty reasoning or speculative premises, which can be neither affirmed nor denied and thus cannot be discussed rigorously and scientifically. For a meaningful discussion on whether a certain statement is true or false, the statement must satisfy the criterion of falsifiability, the inherent possibility for the statement to be tested and found false. In this sense, the phrase "not even wrong" is synonymous with "unfalsifiable".
“甚至连错都算不上”这句话经常用来描述伪科学,形容那些标榜是科学的论证或解释,却使用了错误的推理或推测前提,既不能肯定也不能否定,因此无法对其进行严格科学的讨论。要对某一论述的真假进行有意义的讨论,此论述就必须满足可证伪性的标准,即该论述具有可被证伪的内在可能性。从这个意义上说,“甚至连错都算不上”与“不可证伪的”意思相同。
学习提示
1、“pseudoscience”指“a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method 伪科学。”
2、“purport”意思为“ to claim to be sth or to have done sth, when this may not be true”,因此此处的“purports to be scientific”,可以理解为“标榜;自称为为科学的”。
3、注意被动语态在翻译时的处理:“ thus cannot be discussed rigorously and scientifically”,若按照原文结构将其处理为被动语态:“因此其(论证或解释)不能被严格科学地讨论”,虽然也能接受,但中文中对“被”字的使用是较少的,因此将其处理为:“因此无法对其进行严格科学的讨论”。
4、 “For a meaningful discussion on whether a certain statement is true or false, the statement must ...”,此句在翻译时要注意词性转化以及逻辑的梳理,为避免译文冗余,可以把“whether a certain statement is true or false”处理为名词结构:“某论述的真假”;“For”处于句首时,一般可以译为“为了”,而这里处理为“要……就……”更符合中文惯用表达习惯。
The phrase is generally attributed to the theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli, who was known for his colorful objections to incorrect or careless thinking. Rudolf Peierls documents an instance in which "a friend showed Pauli the paper of a young physicist which he suspected was not of great value but on which he wanted Pauli's views. Pauli remarked sadly, 'It is not even wrong'." This is also often quoted as "That is not only not right; it is not even wrong", or in Pauli's native German, "Das ist nicht nur nicht richtig; es ist nicht einmal falsch!" Peierls remarks that quite a few apocryphal stories of this kind have been circulated and mentions that he listed only the ones personally vouched for by him.
通常认为这句话是理论物理学家沃尔夫冈·泡利所说,泡利对错误或草率的想法毫不客气,因其毒舌批评而闻名。鲁道夫·佩尔斯(Rudolf Peierls)记录了这样一个例子:“泡利的一位朋友拿了一位年轻物理学家的论文给泡利看,这位朋友认为这篇论文没什么价值,但他还想听听泡利的意见。泡利悲伤地说道:‘这甚至连错都算不上’。”这句话也常常引用为:“这不仅不对,甚至连错都算不上”。佩尔斯表示,此类传闻流传了相当多,而他只记录了他能亲自作证的故事。
学习提示
1、“The phrase is generally attributed to”中“attribute”一词为熟词僻义,其通常的意思是“归功于;归因于”,而这里是指“to say or believe that sb is responsible for doing sth, especially for saying, writing or painting sth 认为是…所为(或说、写、作)”。
2、“who was known for his colorful objections to incorrect or careless thinking”,这句话中用词虽然都很简单,但要翻得地道却不容易。“colorful objections to incorrect or careless thinking”需要结合语境来理解,后文都是在例举泡利的“objections”,因此可意译为:“泡利对错误或草率的想法毫不客气”或者“泡利在批评错误或草率的想法时巧舌如簧”。
3、“apocryphal”意为“well known, but probably not true 传闻但不足为凭的;虚构的”。
4、Vouch for sth:to say that you believe that sth is true or good because you have evidence for it (因有证据而)为…作证。
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