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发信人: gzcsl(诗亮) 整理人: roy_young(2001-12-07 14:39:42), 站内信件 |
| The most famous image of Uncle Sam is from James Montgomery Flagg's WWI recruiting poster. But Sam was not the creation of Flagg. Uncle Sam predates Flagg's poster by over a century and is the product of a different war.
The earliest surviving use of the term is from the Troy, NY Troy Post of 3 September 1813: 'Loss upon loss,' and 'no luck stiring but what lights upon Uncle Sam's shoulders,' exclaim the Government editors, in every part of the Country ... This name for our government has got almost as current as 'John Bull.' The letters U.S. on the government wagons are supposed to have given rise to it. But legend has it that the name derives from a real man, and the origin is much akin to that of Kilroy. Samuel Wilson, so goes the legend, was a meat inspector in the service of the federal government whose task it was to approve the quality of meat bought by the army. Workers handling barrels of meat stenciled with "US" questioned what the cryptic phrase weant. The joke went up that it stood for Uncle Sam Wilson. There, unfortunately, is no evidence to support the story. The exact origin is lost in history, but it undoubtedly arose as a joke on the paternal nature of the government. 山姆大叔 山姆大叔最著名的形象出自詹姆士·蒙吾马利·费兰格的第一次世界大战的征兵广告，但山姆并非弗兰格的首创。山姆大叔出现的时间要比弗兰格的广告早一个世纪，它是另一场战争的产品。 这一词语所保存的最早的用法来自特洛伊报，纽约特洛伊报1813年9月3日有如下一段文字： “一次又一次的失败”，“没有激动人心和好运”，但是什么照亮了山姆大叔的双肩，在全国各地，政府编辑们正惊呼 ‘山姆大叔成了美国政府行话式的代名词，这几乎跟‘约翰牛’一-般流行。美国政府官员乘座的马车上所印的字母U S很可能是造成‘Uncle Sam’流行的原因。 但有传说是这样的：山姆大叔确有其人，其来源与Kilroy（奈尔洛艾）和来源相似。传说讲的是一个叫塞缪尔·威尔逊的肉食品检验官，他的任务是为联邦政府检验军队采购的肉的质量，然后批准是否可以食用。装肉的木桶上刻有US字样，工人们问起这一隐秘的词组的含义，有人开玩笑说，US代表Uncle San Wilson（山姆·威尔逊大叔），很遗憾并无证据来证实这一故事。 “山姆大叔”一词确切的历史根源已无从查考，但无疑它作为笑话出现，反映出美国政府的父权主义的性质。 ---- 
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