หลายครั้งที่เราได้ยินเรื่องราวที่เกินจริง หรือยากที่จะเชื่อได้ บางครั้งเรื่องราวอาจจะฟังดูไม่สมเหตุสมผลเอาซะเลย ในภาษาอังกฤษจะใช้คำว่าอะไรได้บ้างลองมาหาคำตอบจากบทความนี้กันเลยค่ะ ระดับความยาก: 1
Have you heard the expression “ring true”? As in: “That doesn’t ring true to me.” The “ring” here is not what you put on your finger; it’s something your phone does or a bell does. It must have something to do with sound, right?
So if “ring true” = “sound(s) true,” then we can understand that “That doesn’t ring true to me” = “That doesn’t sound true to me” / “That doesn’t sound right” / “That sounds false.”
Note that “doesn’t ring true” is a formal or polite way of expressing a feeling of skepticism or disbelief.
What’s Wrong, Tony?
Here’s an example from recent news. Some believe that Thaksin Shinawatra, A.K.A. “Tony Woodsome,” is pretending to be sick so he can spend his time in Police General Hospital instead of prison. This is a well-known tactic of rich people who are convicted of crimes, because life in a hospital is much more comfortable than in jail. According to media reports, his daughter said Thaksin had surgery but she didn’t say what kind of surgery; she told reporters to ask his doctors if they wanted to know more. Thaksin is said to suffer from high blood pressure. He was in prison for only 13 hours; while in the hospital he’s staying in a “royal suite” and allowed 10 visitors per day.
Example 1: Small
Let’s say I’m talking to my colleague Lek at the office about this story. Lek has doubts about Thaksin. We work for the same company, but we don’t know each other well. So she would use “doesn’t ring true” because she wants to express herself politely. It might also be she is not 100% sure that her doubts are correct.
Lek says: “The story of Thaksin being too unwell for jail doesn’t ring true to me. He looked fine when he arrived back in Thailand.”
On a scale of 1-10, if 1 is “soft emotion/very polite” and 10 is “strong emotion/not polite,” what Lek is saying a 1 or 2.
Example 2: Medium
Lek and I are friends and we’re having dinner. Since we know each other well, she doesn’t need to speak in a formal way. Also, she is more suspicious of Thaksin than in the 1st example.
Lek says: “That story of Thaksin being too unwell for jail smells fishy to me. The timing is fishy, the secret ‘surgery’ is fishy, everything is fishy.”
“Smells fishy” is an expression that means “suspicious.” Lek could have shortened “the story smells fishy” to “the story smells” or “the story stinks.” On a scale of 1-10, what Lek is saying is a 5.
Example 3: Large
Lek is my sister. She studied history and political science in university and believes Thaksin cheated and lied to the Thai people.
Lek says: “That story is such bullshit! Brother, it’s just another case of a rich person getting special treatment. How many other inmates are transferred to the hospital due to high blood pressure? And how many get to stay in a ‘royal suite’?”
Another way she could have said this is “I call bullshit on that story!” “Bullshit” is slang. It was once considered very impolite and still is by some people, although nowadays you hear it a lot in movies and shows.
In this example, what Lek says is an 8 or 9 on our scale of 1-10. A little less impolite is to use the abbreviation “B.S.”: “I call BS on that story!” or “That story is such BS!”
คำศัพท์ที่น่าสนใจในบทความ
- ring true (idm) เป็นไปได้, น่าจะเป็นจริง, ค่อนข้างจริง
- skepticism (n) ความสงสัย, ความกังขา
- disbelief (n) ความไม่เชื่อ, การไม่ยอมรับ
- A.K.A. (abbr) ย่อมาจาก also know as แปลได้ว่า รู้จักกันในนาม
- pretending (n) การเสแสร้ง
- tactic (n) ยุทธวิธี, หนทาง, นโยบาย, กลยุทธ์
- convict (vi) ได้รับการพิสูจน์ว่ามีความผิดจริง
- colleague (n) เพื่อนร่วมงาน
- doubt (n) ความสงสัย, ความคลางแคลงใจ, ความไม่แน่ใจ, ความไม่เชื่อถือ
- suspicious (adj) น่าสงสัย, ไม่ชอบมาพากล, ไม่น่าไว้ใจ, ไม่แน่ใจ, คลางแคลงใจ
- fishy (adj) น่าสงสัย, น่าเคลือบแคลง, ทะแม่งๆ
- inmates (n) ผู้ถูกกักกัน, ผู้ถูกกักบริเวณในเรือนจำหรือโรงพยาบาล
- nowadays (adv) ทุกวันนี้, ปัจจุบันนี้, ขณะนี้
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