英語說－－聲名狼籍／名聲掃地／聲敗名裂

有一天，Jay Leno上街做節目，隨意問路人幾個slangs的意思和來源。我發現好些美國‘原住民’答非所問，心裏平衡許多，自信大增。

Jay Leno還非常好心地提醒一壯丁：Your fly is open. 此男無比從容地在鏡頭前把‘門’關上。服了。

問題1： His name is Mudd.

老美朋友簡單告訴我該slang與林肯有關，亦可說：His name is mud 。

查‘Cliches’，卻與林肯無關：

One's name is mud------One is discredited. This term appparently originated in the British Parliament in the early nineteenth century, when it was used for any member who disgraced himself, through either a singularly bad speech or an overwhelming defeat in an election. (In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries' mud' was slang for 'a fool' or 'a stupid fellow.') In time, however, the meaning became milder, simply denoting that someone had made a bad mistake.

今天看了從國內帶來的‘最新實用英語典故詞典－－張向陽’一書，該詞條真與林肯有關。

源自美國曆史事件。 1865年美國總統林肯在華盛頓戲院看戲，約翰-威爾克斯-步思刺殺林肯之後，從包廂跳下舞台，摔傷了腿，他在同伴的接應下，逃到馬裏蘭州，被送到塞繆爾-A-默德醫生家治療。後來聯邦追捕的士兵抓獲布思，將其處死。而默德醫生因給凶手治療被作為同謀犯被判無期徒刑。在服刑期間，黃熱病蔓延，默德救了許多獄警和囚犯的生命，並因此獲特赦出獄。但是美國人民仍不原諒他，認為他的名字也是可憎的。後來 one's name is Mudd 就表示某人‘聲名狼籍／聲敗名裂’，亦作 one's name is mud。

John Wilkes Booth broke his leg while escaping after shooting Abraham Lincoln in 1865. He was given medical help by Dr Samuel Mudd, who didn't then know about the assassination. Mudd was convicted of being Booth's conspirator, although he is widely believed to have been innocent. Actually, whether Mudd was innocent or not is of little consequence in regard to the origin of this phrase. It was in general circulation before Lincoln was assassinated. This comes from John Badcock's (aka 'J. Bee’) Slang - A dictionary of the turf etc., 1823:

"Mud - a stupid twaddling fellow. ‘And his name is mud!’ ejaculated upon the conclusion of a silly oration, or of a leader in the Courier."

My name's mud in the office after what happened today.
今天的事情發生後，我在辦公室裏的名聲就臭了。