Shoot the Breeze——談天說地

** talk informally（非正式地談話）// chat （聊天）

// to express one’s opinion on a variety of matters, whether or not one knows much about them

（表達一個人對各種問題的看法，無論對它們是否有所了解）。

~~ 閒談；談天說地；閒聊；聊天；空談；閒扯；胡扯；吹吹牛；侃侃而談；嘮嘮嗑

~~ shoot the bull; throw the bull; chew the fat; chew the rag; pass the time of day; kill time; hang out; run off at the mouth; talk nineteen to the dozen; talk someone's ear off; yackety-yak; chitter-chatter; tittle-tattle; jibber-jabber

!! Shooting the breeze, in early 1900s, alludes to talking into the wind which brings up the image of the hot air expanding or rising in a gossip session.

二十世紀初，“ shoot the breeze” 暗示向風中說話，這是在說三道四的環境中，像熱空氣在膨脹或上升的形象。

!! A variant is "shooting the bull". Bull is short for bullshit, whish means nonsense, empty talk or lies. A "shooting the bull" gathering is called a bull session and traditionally consists entirely of males.

這個詞是“shooting the bull”的變體，Bull 是廢話的縮寫，意思是無稽之談、空談或謊言。“shooting the bull”的聚會被稱為吹牛會議，傳統上由男性組成。

>> Whenever my boss and I get together, we have so much serious business to talk about that we rarely ever have time to shoot the breeze.

每當我的老闆和我聚在一起的時候，我們都有許多認真的事情要談論，使我們很少時間閒談。

>> To get the staff to open up and talk about their private lives or how they feel about work, we must be in a venue that is conducive to shooting the breeze.

要讓員工敞開心扉談論他們的私人生活或對工作的感受，我們必須在有利於談天說地的場所。

學勤進修教育中心

英語專科導師

李啟文 教授