儒琴英语词汇选自欧美报刊文章以及英语原文小说。坚持学习英语今日词汇，有助于阅读和理解当今欧美主流媒体的新闻时事报道和英语文学作品。
儒琴英语词汇（English Words and Phrases of the Day）
spitball verb
Meaning
Spitballing is throwing out ideas for discussion, brainstorming,
expressing solutions to a problem in order to see how they are received.
Spitballing is not a definitive solution or conclusion, and is often not taken seriously. (Grammarist)
随便提议，随便说说，提出意见
Origin
The word spitball was first used in the 1700s to mean a tool to blacken one’s boots. Later, the word spitball was used to mean a chewed up wad of paper used as a missile by a child. Still later, a spitball was a certain type of baseball pitch that involved applying spit to the ball to make it wobble.
Spitballing came into use as early as the 1930s, and perhaps earlier. The exact origin is in dispute, but most people believe in originated in the advertising business. Related words are spitball, spitballs, spitballed.
(grammarist)
Examples
President Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election bid campaign manager, Brad Parscale, might have only been spitballing when he told Republican Party delegates gathered at Indian Wells, California on Sunday the Trumps are “a dynasty that will last for decades.” (The International Business Times)
On Twitter, filmmaker Sean Baker spitballed a “theatrical tier” to Netflix’s pricing plan that, for a nominal fee, would allow the streamer’s subscribers to see Netflix films in theaters for free. (The Gazette)
I, too, sit around the fire with my friends and (more often) family spitballing obnoxiously inappropriate product ideas.
push the boundaries
push the envelope
think outside the box
color outside the line
Meaning
All the phrases above are about thinking, thinking in a new way and having new ideas.
创新思维，打破常规
Examples
Gillis responded on Twitter to the criticism, posting a statement. “I’m a comedian who pushes boundaries.
(CNN Sep 15, 2019)
In a May 2016 interview with Philadelphia’s Billy Penn, Gillis talked about the boundaries he pushes with his brand of comedy. (CNN Sep 2019)
Apr. 10, 2019 · President Donald Trump is testing the limits of his power. … Trump pushes the bounds of his power … the rise of a tyrant pushing all the boundaries of power at once …(NBCNEWS)
Trump pushes the boundaries on the Russia probe — again.
(The Washington Post May 23, 2017)
off-color joke
Meaning
Exhibiting bad taste; in violation of good taste even verging on the indecent
低级笑话
Examples
Yang himself is a complicated figure to highlight the racist comments. At Thursday’s Democratic debate, Yang cracked an off
color joke as he discussed healthcare and the mounting paperwork doctors face.
Feb. 17, 2017 · It’s called check-out time,” Trump told Stern, referring to a woman’s age. Twitter took none too kindly to Trump’s off-color joke. (MIC)
Mar. 3, 2016 · The crowd roared and hooted at what multiple analysts would later label as Trump’s off-color joke.
(Gephardtdaily)
crack the whip
Meaning
to use your authority to make someone else behave better or work harder. 威逼，施威（使某人表现更好或更卖力）
(Cambridge )
Origin
Crack the whip means to push someone to work harder, to demand more work from someone or that someone work faster or longer. A boss who is known to crack the whip is unreasonable. Usually, one can not satisfy a boss who will crack the whip. The idiom crack the whip is derived from a literal phrase, crack the whip, that came into use at least as early as the 1600s.
This phrase describes the literal cracking of a whip over a horse’s head to startle him into obeying. The idiom crack the whip came into use sometime in the latter-1800s.
Crack the whip is also a well-known children’s game that involves children holding hands in a chain. The lead child runs in random patterns across an area, dragging the line of children behind him so that the formation resembles a cracking whip. Related phrases are cracks the whip, cracked the whip, cracking the whip.
(Grammarist)
Examples
We were two months behind schedule, so I decided it was time to crack the whip.
我们比原计划落后了两个月，所以我决定该督促加快进度了。
(Cambridge)
Its gross to see just how much of a fair-weather friend the average republican is, but at the same time it’s really cool to see Trump crack the whip LBJ style. (Yuki )
They’ve recently installed a new management team to crack the whip. Donna stayed at home and cracked the whip over her three girls and son. (Thefreedictionary)
