| 词组 | bottleneck |
| 释义 | bottleneck Bottleneck is a metaphorical term still in use that seems to have reached a peak of popularity during World War II, when, as Watt 1967 observes, it became fashionable to refer to any place, person, or thing that retards progress as a bottleneck. In the flood tide of popular use it was inevitable that the word would sometimes find its way into contexts in which it looked ludicrous—if one stopped to think of the origin of the metaphor. Comment on bottleneck in eight or nine usage books—mostly British—can be traced to one man, Henry Strauss, Lord Conesford. He compiled a list of some of the sillier combinations, such as bottlenecks that needed to be ironed out, and sent them to The Times, where they were published. From The Times the list went into Gowers 1948, and his later editions, then into the pseudonymous Vigilans's Chamber of Horrors (1952), Evans 1957, Watt 1967, and so forth. Lord Conesford ran the whole list in the Saturday Evening Post (13 July 1957). In somewhat diluted form it seems to account for the entries in Phythian 1979, Bryson 1984, and Longman 1984. Sir Bruce Fraser dropped the list and shortened the entry for the 1973 edition of The Complete Plain Words. The problem seems to have been essentially a British one all along. Our file of usages from the World War II era is fairly large and notably devoid of humorous combinations. We have only one instance of "big bottleneck," which is often pointed at: • Lack of home-finding social workers is another big bottleneck here — PM, 10 July 1941 The verb of choice with bottleneck was not iron out but break: • ... to increase scarce materials and facilities, break bottlenecks, channel production to meet essential needs —Harry S. Truman, message to Congress, 6 Sept. 1945 We do have a recent ease, which seems not unreasonable: • ... could be undertaken to ease certain civilian bottlenecks —Abraham S. Becker, Wall Street Jour., 21 June 1982 With the passing of the surge of usage following the World War II era, the point of the commentary has become lost. The word is still in use and is still applied to any person, place, or thing that impedes progress. But the funny combinations are gone. |
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